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ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 
OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS 


AND 


THE  RIGHTS  AND  RESPONSIBILITIES  OF  THE 
STATE  IN  THE  CONTROL  THEREOF 


BY 

ROBERT   BAGNELL 


NEW  YOEK,  1911 


SUBMITTED  IN  PAETIAL  FULFILLMENT  OF  THE  REQUIEEMENTS 

FOR  THE   DEGREE  OF  DOCTOR  OF   PHILOSOPHY,    IN  THE 

FACULTY  OF   PHILOSOPHY,  COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 


^t 


COPYKIGHT,  1911,  BY 

ROBERT    BAGNELL 


*  •  «  *   *     .  ' 


INTRODUCTION 


It  is  the  purpose  of  this  paper  to  study  the  liquor  prob- 
lem from  the  social  standpoint.  We  are  concerned  with  the 
question  of  the  use  of  liquor  by  the  individual  only  in  his 
relations  with  society.  With  the  question  of  the  wisdom  or 
folly  of  the  use  of  liquor  considered  in  its  effect  upon  himself 
alone  we  have  nothing  to  do  at  this  time.  Interesting  and 
important  investigations  are  being  conducted  by  scientists 
upon  the  physiological  effects  of  alcohol.^  The  total-absti- 
nence propaganda  is  being  pressed  with  increasing  vigor. 
All  this  constitutes  a  question  of  extreme  importance,  but 
of  an  individual  character,  and  so  does  not  lie  within  the 
scope  of  this  discussion.  We  are  to  inquire  about  the 
effects  of  the  excessive  use  of  alcohol  upon  society,  and 
the  responsibility  of  the  saloon  for  this  situation.  This  is 
our  problem.  Then  we  propose  to  ask  what  is  being  done  to 
solve  this  problem  of  society,  and  what  the  rights  of  the 
state  are  in  the  premises. 

In  gathering  the  material  upon  which  our  conclusions  are 
based,  we  not  only  studied  the  book  and  periodical  literature 
upon  the  subject,  but  also  addressed  a  series  of  questions  to 
a  considerable  number  of  charity  organizations,  commis- 
sioners of  the  poor,  police  departments,  and  commissioners 
for  the  insane,  and  also  sent  copies  of  each  series  of  ques- 
tions to  twenty-four  consuls-general  of  the  United  States  in 

^See  Physiological  Effects  of  Alcohol — Committee  of  Fifty;  also 
article  by  Dr.  Henry  Smith  Williams,  McClure's  Magazine,  Oct.,  1908. 

iii 

227363 


INTRODUCTION. 

Europe  and  Canada,  asking  them  to  secure  information  upon 
the  various  subjects  of  inquiry  presented.  Many  of  them 
were  very  kind  in  responding  to  the  requests,  and  through 
these  agencies  much  valuable  information  was  secured  and 
is  embodied  in  the  conclusions  reached. 


IV 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAOB 

The  Effects  of  the  Excessive  Use  of  Alcohol  upon  the 

Individual 1 

CHAPTER  II. 
The  Influence  of  the  Saloon  in  the  Community        .       .      21 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  Economic  Aspects  of  the  Question 35 

CHAPTER  IV. 
The  Study  of  the  Problem 40 

CHAPTER  V. 
The  Power  of  the  State  to  Control  the  Liquor  Traffic  .      56 

CHAPTER  VI. 
The  Basis  op  the  Rights  and  Responsibilities  of  the  State      59 

CHAPTER  VII. 
The  Individual  and  His  Rights 76 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
The  Conflict  op  Rights 86 

CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Right  of  the  State  to  Control  the  Use  and  Sale  op 

Liquors 89 


V 


? . '' 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS  OF 
THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

THE  EFFECTS  OF  THE  EXCESSIVE  USE  OF  ALCOHOL  UPON  THE 
INDIVIDUAL. 

We  are  considering  man  as  a  social  being.  As  such  he  has 
certain  relations  with  society,  and  his  inefficiency,  his  pov- 
erty, his  insanity,  or  his  criminality  increases  the  burden  of 
society.  Hence,  the  study  of  the  causes  of  these  conditions 
becomes  necessary.  Our  attitude  upon  the  question  of  the 
harmfulness  of  the  saloon  and  the  liquor  traffic  will  depend 
somewhat  upon  the  conclusions  we  reach  in  this  chapter. 
This  statement  is  qualified  because  there  are  other  factors 
involved  in  the  problem  of  the  saloon  which  will  be  con- 
sidered in  their  proper  place. 

The  subject  of  this  chapter  can  be  best  considered  from 
four  standpoints.  (A)  The  relation  of  alcohol  to  human 
deterioration  and  inefficiency.  (B)  The  relation  of  alcohol 
to  disease,  especially  insanity.  (C)  The  relation  of  alcohol 
to  poverty,  and  (D)  the  relation  of  alcohol  to  crime. 

(A)  The  Relation  of  Alcohol  to  Deterioration  and 
Inefficiency. 

It  is  universally  believed  that  the  excessive  use  of  alcohol 
causes  inefficiency  and  deterioration.     No  employer  of  labor 

1 


C.  '•  l/l  j;;  ECONPMIQ  AKD  MORAL  ASPECTS 

will  hire  a  man  addicted  to  drink  if  he  can  avoid  it.     The 
loss  of  time,  the  inferior  quality  of  work  done  while  under 
the  influence  of  liquor,  the  danger  to  those  dependent  upon 
him  in  life  and  property,  all  render  the  drinking  man  an 
undesirable  employee.     All  employers  of  labor  are  becoming 
increasingly  strict  about  the  matter.     A  correspondence  with 
a  number  of  great  corporations  that  employ  large  numbers 
of  men  revealed,  not  only  a  tendency  to  discharge  men  who 
drank  while  on  duty,  but  also  not  to  employ  or  retain  men 
who  frequented  saloons  at  any  time.     A  few  quotations  out 
of  a  number  of  answers  will  suffice.    The  Pennsylvania  Rail- 
road has  "  A  standing  rule  stating  that  the  use  of  intoxicants 
by  employees  while  on  duty  is  prohibited,  and  that  their  ha- 
bitual use,  or  the  frequenting  of  places  where  they  are  sold, 
be  sufficient  cause  for  removal."    The  Delaware  and  Lacka- 
wanna Railroad:  "The  rules  of  our  company  prohibit  abso- 
lutely men  from  drinking  while  on  duty,  and  while  we  have 
not,  as  far  as  my  knowledge  goes,  any  rule  forbidding  them 
to  use  intoxicating  liquors  when  off  duty,  we  have  a  general 
rule  which  states  that  any  employee  making  habitual  use  of 
intoxicating  liquors  or  frequenting  places  where  they  are  sold 
is  liable  to  be  dismissed  from  the  service  of  the  company  per- 
manently."   The  New  York  Central  Railroad :  "  We  do  not 
recognize  the  privilege  of  our  employees  to  use  intoxicants," 
and  the  road  has  a  rule  similar  to  those  already  quoted. 
While  perhaps  the  railroads  are   in  advance  of  most  cor- 
porations  in  the  matter,  yet   other   employers   are  not  far 
behind,  as  witness  this  from  Marshall  Field  &  Co. :  "  We 
never  engage  a  person  addicted  to  the  use  of  intoxicating 
drinks  if  we  know  it,  and  if  we  find  that  anyone  in  our  em- 
ploy is  indulging  in  anything  of  this  kind,  we  first  interview 
him  and  later  discharge   him,  if  necessary."     Many  other 
firms  reported  rules  of  similar  tenor  to  those  above.^     The 

1  John  Wanamaker,  Loeser's,  Standard  Oil  Co.,  The  U.  S.  Steel  Cor- 
poration, etc. 

2 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

United  States  Commissioner  of  Labor  sent  a  note  of  inquiry 
to  7,000  concerns  employing  labor,  and  received  replies  from 
5,363  to  the  effect  that  the  drink  question  was  taken  in  very 
serious  consideration  in  employing  help.  That  they  had  to 
be  careful,  because  they  v^ere  held  to  account  for  accidents 
which  might  involve  heavy  liabilities.^  Too  much  is  not  to 
be  read  into  these  rules,  but  they  illustrate  a  growing  feeling 
against  the  use  of  liquor,  and  indicate  a  preference  for  the 
total  abstainer  in  all  branches  of  industry.  This  is  due  to 
two  considerations:  First,  the  dangers  involved,  and  second, 
the  increasing  inefficiency  of  the  drinking  man.  The  great 
corporations  are  mainly  concerned  with  the  question  of 
efficiency,  and  their  right  to  forbid  the  use  of  liquor  on  the 
part  of  the  employees  is  based  upon  the  bad  effects  of  its 
use  from  this  standpoint.  The  state,  in  its  efforts  to  promote 
the  efficiency  of  its  citizens  as  individuals,  may  not  go  this 
far,  but  when  there  is  a  positive  deterioration  of  its  citizens 
according  to  physical  and  moral  standards,  then  the  state  in 
its  exercise  of  its  right  and  duty  in  the  preservation  of  its 
own  safety  and  efficiency,  must  seek  to  determine  the  causes 
of  -such  deterioration  and  remove  them.  An  illustration  of 
the  exercise  of  this  right  and  duty,  at  least  so  far  as  to  make 
a  careful  investigation,  is  found  in  a  recent  case  in  Great 
Britain.  The  British  Parliament  in  1904  received  a  report 
from  the  "  Inter-Departmental  Committee  on  Physical  Deteri- 
oration "  which  in  some  respects  is  very  significant.  The 
terms  of  reference  of  this  committee  are  as  follows : 

"  (1)  To  determine,  with  the  aid  of  such  counsel  as  the 
medical  professors  are  able  to  give,  the  steps  that  should  be 
taken  to  furnish  the  Government  and  the  nation  at  large  with 
periodical  data  for  an  accurate  comparative  estijaate  of  the 
health  and  physique  of  the  people;  (2)  to  indicate  generally 
the  causes  of  such  physical  deterioration  as  does  exist  in  cer- 

*  Article  by  F.  C.  Iglehart  in  Review  of  Reviews,  May,  1909. 

3 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

tain  classes;  and  (3)  to  point  out  the  means  by  which  it  can 
be  most  effectually  diminished.  The  occasion  for  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  committee  was  the  large  number  of  rejections 
of  recruits  for  the  army  for  physical  causes,  and  especially 
the  report  of  the  Royal  Commission  on  physical  training  for 
Scotland."  ^  This  report  of  the  Inter-Departmental  Com- 
mittee was  presented  to  both  houses  of  Parliament  in  1904, 
and  contains  some  striking  statements.  The  report  deals,  of 
course,  with  many  things,  but  notes  in  particular  the  in- 
creased drinking  among  women,  and  then  says:  "The  first 
point  upon  which  Mr.  Eccles  (Mr.  McAdam  Eccles)  laid 
stress  was  the  physical  effect  of  alcohol  on  tissues,  illustrating 
this  by  the  results  of  experiments  on  vegetable  growth,  ani- 
mal protoplasm,  and  the  development  of  certain  eggs,  he 
argued  that  this  action  upon  the  cells  of  the  human  body 
is  similar  in  character,  and  operates  in  the  same  adverse 
manner.  These  facts  are  held  to  be  of  special  importance, 
when  the  great  increase  of  drinking  among  women  already 
described  is  realized.  It  is  true,  as  was  pointed  out,  that 
history  affords  instances  of  drunken  nations  whose  vitality 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  greatly  interfered  with,  but  this 
is  assumed  to  have  been  the  case  because  the  mothers  of  the 
race  were  sober,  and  the  conclusion  is  stated  that :  '  If  the 
mother  as  weU  as  the  father  is  given  to  drink  the  progeny 
will  deteriorate  in  every  way,  and  the  future  of  the  race  is 
imperiled.' "  ^ 

Certain  statistics  are  also  presented  upon  the  effect  of  al- 
cohol in  shortening  life :  "  According  to  which  it  is  estimated 
that  of  61,315  men  between  twenty-five  and  sixty-five  years 
of  age,  1,000  die  in  one  year,  but  of  publicans  1,642  die  in 
one  year,  while  of  total  abstainers  only  560  die.  It  was  shown 
by  the  insurance  statistics  that  out  of  100,000  persons  aged 
thirty,  some  44,000  would  reach  an  age  of  seventy,  while  over 

1  Page  5  of  Report.  ^  Page  31  of  Report. 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

55,000  abstainers  might  be  expected  to  reach  that  age  or 
twenty-five  per  cent  more/'  ^ 

That  the  excessive  use  of  liquor  is  associated  either  as  a 
cause  or  natural  accompaniment  of  moral  deterioration,  is 
illustrated  by  conditions  in  communities  where  drinking  is 
very  common,  as  in  mining  towns.  Here  all  forms  of  vice 
are  rampant,  and  the  general  moral  conditions  are  very  bad. 
The  situation  in  England  in  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth 
and  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  centuries,  when  drinking 
became  very  excessive  and  when  moral  conditions  reached 
their  lowest  plane  in  many  centuries,  is  a  further  illustration 
of  this  fact.^ 

There  are  doubtless  many  places  where  the  race  is  actually 
deteriorating,  and  while  there  may  be  many  factors,  as  is 
pointed  out  in  above  voluminous  report,  still  undoubtedly 
alcohol  is  one  of  the  most  important.  Another  thing  needs 
to  be  considered — i.  e.,  that  without  doubt  in  many  places 
when  the  excessive  use  of  alcohol  has  not  effected  an  actual 
deterioration  of  the  people,  it  has  retarded  very  seriously  their 
development,  but  unfortunately  very  little  study  has  been 
given  to  this  phase  of  the  question,  and  no  data  are  available. 

(B)  The  Eelation  of  Alcohol  to  Disease. 

In  the  first  place,  alcoholism  is  an  active  cause  of  disease. 
It  is  a  direct  cause  of  death  in  many  cases.  Statistics  on  this 
are  hard  to  obtain.  Probably  no  authoritative  statistics  for 
this  country  are  to  be  had.  According  to  Vacher,  "  the  Regis- 
trar-General's Reports  for  England  and  Wales  show  during 
the  period  of  twenty  years  ending  1900  a  total  of  110,215 
deaths  due  to  chronic  alcoholism,  delirium  tremens,  and 
cirrhosis  of  the  liver,  these  being  the  only  causes  of  death 
registered  in  the  reports,  which  directly  represent  the  mor- 

1  Pages  31  and  32. 

*  See  Green's  History  of  England,  vol.  iv.,  p.  120. 

5 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

tality  from  alcoholic  intemperance.  The  three  causes  of 
death  in  these  statistics  by  no  means  represent  the  total  mor- 
tality from  alcoholic  intemperance,  for  the  agency  of  alcohol 
in  the  causation  and  fatality  of  Bright's  Disease,  diseases  of 
the  heart  and  blood  vessels,  apoplexy,  paralysis,  insanity, 
pneumonia,  tuberculosis,  and  other  diseases  are  not  recorded 
in  these  or  most  mortality  returns."  ^ 

As  this  is  not  a  dicussion  of  the  pathological  subject,  it  is 
not  necessary  to  cite  the  various  authorities  upon  the  effects 
of  alcohol  upon  the  Alimentary  and  Respiratory  Tracts,  Liver, 
Pancreas,  Kidneys,  Heart,  Blood  Vessels,  and  Nervous  System, 
and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  exact  data  are  not  available,  for  this 
is  one  of  the  fields  of  investigation  in  which  scientists  are 
now  at  work.  In  all  things  they  are  not  agreed,  but  they  do 
agree  upon  the  fact  that  the  excessive  use  of  alcohol  has  a 
vicious  effect  upon  the  human  system,  and  is  an  active  agent 
in  causing  many  diseases.  The  thing  in  particular  where 
they  disagree  is  the  effect  of  alcohol  in  small  doses,  some 
contending  that  in  very  small  doses  it  is  harmless,^  and  others 
that  any  of  it  at  all  is  harmful.^ 

Too  much  emphasis  cannot  be  put  upon  the  fact  that  alco- 
holism lowers  the  powers  of  resistance  of  the  system  against 
disease,  especially  infectious  disease.  "  This  lowered  resist- 
ance is  manifested  by  the  increased  liability  to  contract  the 
disease,  and  by  the  greater  severity  of  the  disease.  Physicians 
generally  recognize  the  greater  progress  of  pneumonia,  chol- 
era, erysipelas,  and  other  infectious  diseases  in  persons  who 
habitually  drink  to  excess,  than  in  others.  The  belief  was 
once  widely  held  that  those  who  indulged  freely  in  alcoholic 
liquors  thereby  acquired  a  certain  degree  of  protection  from 
tuberculosis,  but  this  opinion  is  now  completely  discredited. 
Alcoholism,  if  it  does  not  actually  predispose  to  tuberculosis, 

^  Physiological  Effects  of  Alcohol,  vol.  ii.,  p.  362. 

2  Committee  of  Fifty,  Pathological  Effects  of  Alcohol,  p.  362. 

3  Dr.  Williams,  McClure's  Magazine,  October,  1908. 

6 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

as  some  believe,  certainly  furnishes  no  protection  against  it. 
The  course  of  tuberculosis  in  alcoholic  patients  is  more  rapid 
than  usual."  ^ 

The  French  Permanent  Committee  on  Tuberculosis,  at  a 
meeting  held  June  11,  1910,  listened  to  a  report  by  M.  Lam- 
cereaux,  who  has  studied  2,192  hospital  cases  of  tuberculosis. 
His  statement  of  the  causes  were  as  follows : 

Alcoholism    1229 

Insufficient  air,  etc 650 

Privation  82 

Probable  heredity   90 

Contagion 482  ^ 

The  relation  of  alcoholism  to  insanity  has  been  studied  by 
many  students,  but  it  has  been  with  many  difficulties,  statistics 
furnished  by  the  various  institutions  have  generally  been  un- 
reliable for  the  purpose  in  hand.  They  have  at  best  covered 
only  the  immediate  cause  of  insanity,  without  attempting  to 
give  the  ultimate  cause,  and  in  most  cases  this  could  not  be 
given.  The  figures  presented  show  a  very  wide  variation. 
Perhaps  a  few  quotations  will  illustrate  this.  Glasgow  Dis- 
trict Mental  Hospital,  Woodilee,  1909,  total  cases,  269 ;  cases 
where  alcohol  was  direct  or  contributing  cause,  86.^  Glas- 
gow Parish  Council — ^Annual  Eeport  1910;  total  cases,  553; 
alcohol  as  a  cause  in  20.*  Glasgow  District  Mental  Hos- 
pital, 1910,  Gartloch;  total  cases,  235;  alcohol  as  a  cause  in 
34.^  These  are  from  the  same  community  and  vary  widely, 
so  there  must  be  some  cause.  There  is  no  evidence  in  the 
reports  of  special  facilities  for  treating  alcoholic  patients  in 
any  one  place  more  than  another. 

1  Committee  of  Fifty,  Physiological  Effects  of  Alcohol,  p.  372. 

2  American  Issue,  January,  1911. 
5  Annual  Report,  p.  14. 

*  Report,  p.  19.  '  Report,  p.  26. 

7 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

Take  a  few  illustrations  from  England: 

Total  Cases.  Alcoholic. 

Winwick  Asylum,  Lancaster 157  32 

Whittingham  Asylum,  Lancaster.     344  29 

Prestwich  Asylum,  Lancaster 566  74^ 

The  Fifty-ninth  Annual  Report  of  the  Inspectors  of  Lunacy 
for  Ireland  reports  the  reception  of  3,601  lunatics  into  the 
various  district  and  auxiliary  asylums  of  Ireland  in  1909,  of 
which  intemperance  is  the  probable  cause  of  lunacy  in  336 
cases.  At  the  close  of  the  year  1909  there  were  901  patients 
remaining  in  private  asylums  and  institutions,  of  which  in- 
temperance is  reported  as  probable  cause  in  79  cases.^ 

Take  some  of  the  hospitals  for  the  insane  in  Pennsylvania 
and  we  have  this  result: 

Total  Cases.    Alcoholic. 

Philadelphia   182  3 

Friends  Asylum,  Frankfort 77  17 

St.  Francis  Asylum,  Pittsburg.  . .     209  16 

Harrisburg  637  85 

In  the  Massachusetts  State  Report  for  1909,  a  study  of 
first  cases  of  insanity  reveals,  according  to  their  method  of 
diagnosis,  that  for  a  period  of  five  years,  alcohol  was  a  direct 
or  contributing  cause  of  insanity  in  23.03  per  cent  of  aU 
cases.^  The  report  of  the  Massachusetts  State  Board  of  In- 
sanity is  that  alcoholic  intemperance  is  a  causative  factor  in 
19.30  per  cent  of  new  cases  of  insanity  for  the  year  1909.* 

Efforts  have  been  made  to  sift  these  figures  and  to  reach 
the  facts  of  which  they  are  the  very  imperfect  expression, 

*See  Report  Comity  Lunatic  Asylum,  Lancaster,  Eng.,  pp.  209, 
167,  77. 

2  Pp.  17  and  56. 

3  Report,  1909,  p.  23. 

*  Personal  correspondence  with  the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Insanity. 

8 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

and  some  of  these  are  illuminating.  Dr.  Mabon,  Superin- 
tendent of  Manhattan  State  Hospital,  is  quoted  by  Dr.  Frank 
Woodbury  as  saying :  *^  As  a  result  of  recent  investigation  of 
the  causes  of  insanity  of  the  thousands  admitted  to  that  hos- 
pital, thirty-three  per  cent  are  directly  due  to  alcoholism, 
and  if  those  are  also  counted  in  which  alcoholism  only  acted 
indirectly,  the  proportion  would  be  increased  to  nearly  sixty- 
six  per  cent  of  the  male  patients."  ^ 

The  famous  report  of  the  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statis- 
tics of  Labor  is  now  old,  having  been  published  in  1895,  but 
conditions  have  not  materially  changed.  The  results  of  that 
investigation  are  summarized  as  follows:  ''As  to  the  direct 
influence  of  the  use  of  liquor  upon  insanity,  the  following 
appears:  Of  the  whole  number  (1836)  the  investigation  indi- 
cated that  in  383  instances  (20.86  per  cent)  the  intemperance 
of  the  person  led  to  insanity.  There  were,  however,  330  cases 
where  this  point  could  not  be  ascertained.  Of  the  1,506  cases 
in  which  the  point  was  fully  determined,  the  percentage  was 
25.43."  2 

The  Committee  of  Fifty  undertook  to  get  some  data  upon 
the  subject  and  at  their  suggestion  the  American  Medico- 
Psychological  Society  sent  out  some  30,000  blanks  contain- 
ing a  series  of  queries  upon  the  subject,  and  as  a  result 
received  replies  covering  5,145  patients,  but  as  this  repre- 
sents 117  hospitals  which  must  have  had  many  more  pa- 
tients than  this,  the  results  must  not  be  rated  too  highly. 
However,  of  the  5,145  cases  reported,  1,239  were  considered 
as  due  to  excessive  use  of  liquors  or  24.08  per  cent.^ 

It  will  be  seen  from  these  statements  that  there  is  a  wide- 
spread tendency  to  rate  alcoholism  as  a  very  fruitful  cause 
of  insanity,  the  figures  running  even  as  high  as  66  per  cent 

1  Alcohol  as  an  Active  Cause  of  Insanity,  Dr.  Frank  Woodbury, 
Monthly  Cyclopedia  and  Medical  Bulletin,  July,  1910. 

2  Report,  1895,  p.  412. 

'  Physiological  Effects  of  Alcohol,  vol.  i.,  p.  342. 

9 


y 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

(including  alcohol  both  as  a  direct  and  as  a  contributing 
factor),  but  the  unreliability  of  these  figures  will  be  seen 
in  two  considerations.  First,  the  great  difficulty  of  getting 
at  the  facts,  for  alcoholism  may  be  a  contributing  factor  to 
forms  of  disease  that  eventually  result  in  insanity,  and  never 
be  counted  as  a  cause,  and  second,  relatives  and  friends 
try  to  keep  alcoholism  as  a  cause  of  insanity  in  the  back- 
ground. From  this  point  of  view,  if  all  the  facts  could  be 
obtained,  these  percentages  might  be  increased.  The  sec- 
ond consideration,  however,  presents  another  side,  namely, 
there  is  a  tendency  to  count  the  excessive  use  of  liquor  as 
the  cause  of  insanity  in  every  case  in  which  it  appears.  It 
may  well  be  that  it  had  little  or  nothing  to  do  with  it, 
and  it  may  well  be  also  that  the  excessive  use  of  liquor 
is  caused  by  the  insanity  or  is  a  mark  of  it,  rather  than 
its'  cause. 

A  careful  investigation  was  made  of  this  phase  of  the 
subject  by  the  Medical  Commissioners  in  Lunacy  in  Scot- 
land in  1903,  from  which  I  will  quote  a  paragraph :  "  From 
the  figures  given  above  (detailed  account  of  cases  studied), 
and  from  consideration  of  the  facts  regarding  the  individual 
cases  furnished  by  the  returns,  it  appears  that  insane  per- 
sons whose  insanity  is  accompanied  by  excessive  drinking 
might  be  classified  as  follows: 

"  1.  Those  with  an  inborn  or  hereditary  tendency. 
{a)   To  Insanity. 
(6)  To  Drunkenness, 
(c)  To  both  Insanity  and  Drunkenness. 

"  2.  Those  with  no  discoverable  inborn  tendency  to  in- 
sanity or  to  drunkenness,  but  in  whom  one  of  the  first  symp- 
toms of  insanity  has  been  excessive  addiction  to  drink, 
contrary  to  the  former  habit  of  life. 

^^  3.  Those  with  no  ascertained  inborn  tendency  to  insanity 
and  with  no  known  constitutional  craving  for  intoxicants, 
but  who  have  acquired  habits  of  drinking  through  example 

10 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

and  unfavorable  surroundings,  and  whose  minds,  originally 
healthy,  give  way  owing  to  organic  disorders  resulting  from 
inebriety. 

"  It  is  in  this  third  class  only  of  the  insane  for  whose 
condition  drink  can  be  said  to  be  wholly  responsible,  and  a 
study  of  the  returns  obtained  by  us  indicate  that  it  can  con- 
stitute only  a  small  proportion  of  the  total  number  of  cases 
in  which  drink  is  found  in  association  with  insanity.  By 
far  the  larger  portion  of  such  cases  is  contributed  by  the 
first  and  second  classes  above  referred  to,  and  of  these, 
judging  from  returns,  the  prime  factor  is  heredity.  It 
should  be  noted  in  the  cases  of  the  first  and  second  classes, 
drink  cannot  be  properly  said  to  be  a  cause  at  all,  for  even 
in  the  case  of  class  (&),  where  only  an  hereditary  tendency 
to  drunkenness  has  been  traced,  it  must  be  remembered 
that  hereditary  drunkenness  is  regarded  by  the  highest 
authorities  as  a  symptom  of  degeneration  closely  allied  to 
insanity  and  often  interchangeable  with  it.  These  cases, 
therefore,  in  which  hereditary  drunkenness  manifested  itself 
in  insanity,  do  not  essentially  differ  from  those  in  which 
there  is  an  ascertained  family  history  of  both  insanity  and 
drunkenness."  ^ 

These  views  may  be  regarded  as  extreme.  It  seems  to 
the  writer  that  not  enough  consideration  is  given  to  the 
subject  of  the  transmission  of  physical  conditions  predis- 
posing toward  drunkenness,  and  no  consideration  is  given 
to  the  possible  cure  of  the  inherited  physical  weakness  pre- 
disposing toward  drunkenness,  before  insanity  is  reached. 
While  there  is  a  divergence  of  view  herein  presented,  it  is 
only  upon  the  question  of  degree ;  of  the  fact  that  the  exces- 
sive use  of  alcohol  as  a  prolific  cause  of  insanity  there  is  no 
dispute.  Another  thing  needs  to  be  remembered  in  this  con- 
nection, and  that  is  that  "  Toxic  insanity  is  of  such  insidious 

1  Special  Committee  on  Mental  Cases  Report,  p.  15. 
11 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

origin  and  obscure  development,  that  it  is  impossible  in  many 
cases  to  decide  when  the  border  line  has  been  passed.  In 
the  majority  of  cases  it  is  a  fact  that  the  patient  becomes 
mentally  deficient  and  morally  irresponsible  before  the  actual 
existence  of  his  insanity  is  admitted,  and  often  before  it  is 
even  suspected."  ^ 

(C)  Alcoholism  and  Poverty. 

There  has  been  a  marked  change  in  the  attitude  of  the 
officers  of  charitable  organizations  toward  statistics  upon  the 
relation  of  liquor  and  poverty.  A  few  years  ago  while  there 
was  a  little  distrust  of  figures,  yet  it  was  felt  that  the  result 
would  be  approximately  correct.  The  Committee  of  Fifty, 
The  Massachusetts  Bureau,  and  Mr.  Chas.  Booth,  of  Lon- 
don, have  made  the  most  careful  study  of  the  subject,  but 
they  mainly  expressed  their  conclusions  in  percentages,  which 
are  not  now  valued  so  highly.  But  since  these  three  reports 
represent  the  best  effort  made  to  get  a  systematic  state- 
ment of  the  facts,  we  ought  to  quote  a  few  of  the  items 
they  giYe. 

The  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor  reports 
the  investigation  of  3,230  cases,  of  which  1,274  were  due 
to  drink,  1,427  were  not,  and  in  529  cases  the  causes  of 
poverty  could  not  be  ascertained.^ 

Mr.  Chas.  Booth,  in  his  investigations  among  the  poor 
of  London  found  drink  the  cause  of  poverty  in  14  per 
cent  of  cases  in  classes  A  and  B  and  13  per  cent  in  classes 
C  and  D,  the  latter  being  a  little  higher  grade  of  people.^ 
The  Committee  of  Fifty  in  its  report  states  that  from  the 
report  of  the  charity  organizations  submitted  to  them,  about 
25  per  cent  of  the  cases  studied  owe  their  poverty  to  in- 

1  The  Potentially  Insane,  Dr.  Frank  Woodbury,  p.  4. 
'See  Report,  p.  37. 

» Royal  Statistical  Society  Journal,  1888,  p.  295. 
12    ^ 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

temperate  habits  of  themselves  or  others.  The  reports  from 
the  almshouses  indicate  that  37  per  cent  of  the  poverty  of 
their  inmates  can  be  traced  directly  or  indirectly  to  drink. 
To  this  is  to  be  added  the  destitution  among  children,  of 
which  they  estimate  that  not  less  than  45  per  cent  is  due 
to  drink. ^ 

In  the  last  few  years  since  these  reports  have  been  com- 
piled, there  has  been  a  marked  development  of  the  chari- 
table work  of  the  United  States,  not  only  in  extent,  but  also 
in  the  scientific  value  of  the  work,  and  while  there  are  still 
many  volunteer  workers  who  are  mostly  untrained,  the  num- 
ber of  trained  workers  is  increasing.  It  cannot  be  said, 
however,  that  as  much  attention  is  given  to  the  causes  of 
poverty  as  could  be  desired,  the  work  being  mainly  confined 
to  immediate  relief,  care  of  the  sick,  and  securing  employ- 
ment for  the  idle.^  One  effect  of  the  deeper  knowledge  of  the 
condition  of  the  poor  has  been  an  increasing  reluctance  to 
give  figures.  The  writer  had  correspondence  with  nearly 
one  hundred  charity  organizations  and  boards  of  relief  of 
the  poor,  selecting  them  so  that  they  would  be  representative 
of  all  conditions  of  life,  city,  and  country,  in  all  parts  of 
the  country.  Without  variation,  the  older,  more  experienced 
organizations,  with  the  specialized,  trained  workers,  hesi- 
tated about  giving  figures  in  answering  the  questions  sub- 
mitted, while  the  newer  voluntary  organizations  were  very 
ready  to  tell  just  what  per  cent  of  the  poverty  coming  under 
their  notice  was  due  to  drink.  A  few  quotations  will  illus- 
trate this  point.  Taking  the  latter  class  first.  It  would  be 
invidious  to  give  the  names  of  the  places  to  which  I  refer  in 
this  first  set  of  quotations. 

*  Economic  Aspects  of  Liquor  Problem,  Committee  of  Fifty,  pp.  21 
and  22. 

*  This  is  doubtless  due  to  the  great  amount  of  work  necessary  for 
the  immediate  relief  of  distress,  which  is  regarded  as  the  first  object  of 
such  organizations. 

13 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

The  overseer  of  the  poor  in  a  small  city  of  the  Middle 
West  puts  the  percentage  of  cases  of  poverty  due  to  drink 
at  85.  The  poor  commissioners  of  a  large  city  in  the  Middle 
West  put  it  at  35  per  cent  direct  cause  and  50  per  cent  in- 
direct, making  a  total  of  85  per  cent.  A  small  Eastern  city 
makes  it  60  per  cent.  A  large  city  of  the  Western  Coast,  60 
per  cent  direct  and  12  per  cent  indirect.  A  medium-sized 
city  in  New  England,  50 -per  cent  direct  cause.  A  charity 
organization  in  a  Middle  West  city  says  90  per  cent.  One 
in  a  small  city  in  the  same  section  says  90  per  cent  direct 
and  10  per  cent  indirect  cause.  A  number  of  others  of 
like  character  could  be  quoted,  but  they  are  from  com- 
missioners of  the  poor  who  are  incompetent  to  pass  upon 
causes  of  poverty,  or  from  charity  organizations  of  recent 
origin  and  without  experienced  workers.  They  are  almoners, 
and  have  simply  observed  that  many  of  the  paupers  are  also 
drinkers. 

In  contrast  to  this  are  the  following:  New  York  City 
Charity  Organization,  "We  do  not  attempt  to  give  figures 
on  the  relation  of  drink  to  poverty.  We  know  that  liquor 
is  a  prolific  cause  of  poverty,  but  many  times  poverty  causes 
drink,  and  besides  there  are  so  many  other  factors  involved 
in  the  problem,  that  with  our  present  light  accurate  statistics 
are  impossible."  Buffalo  Charity  Organization :  "  Innocent 
poverty  with  a  long  working  day  and  insufficient  food  leads 
to  drink,  just  as  much  as  drink  causes  poverty.  It  is  a 
vicious  circle."  Baltimore  Federated  Charities :  "  Nor  can  I 
say  what  proportion  of  poverty  is  directly  due  to  drink,  or 
indirectly  so,  the  causes  of  poverty  are,  in  fact,  so  compli- 
cated that  it  is  frequently  difficult  to  tell  whether  drink  itself 
is  the  cause  or  effect."  Boston  Associated  Charities :  "  The 
charity  organization  societies  of  the  country  have  pretty 
largely  given  up  labeling  the  causes  of  poverty  and  instead 
now  indicate  the  condition  incurred  when  the  family  comes 
under  our  care.     We  have  learned  modesty,  and  realize  it 

14 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

takes  a  more  omniscient  eye  than  that  possessed  by  any 
human  being  to  assign  causes."  ^ 

The  reason  for  distrusting  the  old  statistical  method  of 
ascertaining  causes  of  poverty  are  presented  in  a  strong 
paper  on  "  The  Causes  of  Poverty/'  by  Lilian  Brandt.  ^'  The 
old  method  proceeds  upon  the  assumption  (1)  that  in  every 
case  of  poverty  there  is  one  chief  or  principal  cause,  (2) 
that  the  cause  will  be  readily  recognized  by  the  person  who 
is  told  to  find  it  .  .  .  what  the  decision  in  any  case  will  be 
depends  not  upon  the  facts  of  the  case,  but  on  the  more  or 
less  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  facts  possessed  by  the  in- 
vestigator phis  his  own  bias,  determined  by  a  natural  tem- 
perament and  education,  plus  his  ability  to  recognize  a  cause 
when  he  sees  it."  ^  The  investigators  comforted  themselves 
in  the  thought  that  although  they  might  be  mistaken  in  any 
individual  case,  in  the  total,  the  errors  would  correct  each 
other  and  approximately  correct  results  be  realized,  but  this 
does  not  necessarily  follow. 

Trained  workers  have  discovered  that  no  case  of  poverty 
is  a  simple  matter,  and'  do  not  assume,  as  formerly,  that 
liquor  is  the  cause  of  the  poverty,  if  it  so  happens  that  the 
man  himself,  or  in  the  case  of  children  or  women,  the  sup- 
porter of  the  family  drinks.  The  problems  of  poverty  can- 
not be  studied  from  the  standpoint  of  any  one  reform  and 
any  safe  results  be  reached.  They  constitute  a  very  vital 
and  pressing  field  of  their  own,  and  must  be  studied  without 
any  preconceived  notions  of  their  relation  to  any  other 
problem. 

In  the  correspondence  with  charity  organizations  and  over- 
seers of  the  poor,  to  which  reference  has  been  made,  one  of 
the  questions  asked  was,  "  Have  you  made  a  concrete  study 
of  the  causes  of  poverty,  and  if  so,  what  relation  does  liquor 
sustain  to  it  ?  "     In  every  instance,  whether  figures  of  per- 

1  Above  quotations  are  from  letters  from  the  several  organizations. 

2  Political  Science  Quarterly,  vol.  xxiii.,  p.  639. 

15 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

centage  are  submitted  or  not,  the  answer  is  to  the  effect  that 
liquor  is  a  prolific  cause  of  poverty.^ 

It  is  not  the  contention  of  this  writer  that  the  excessive 
nee  of  liquor  is  the  chief  cause  of  poverty,  but  simply  that 
it  is  a  chief  cause  in  some  cases  and  a  contributory  cause 
in  many  others.  Even  writers  who  study  the  problem  of 
poverty  from  an  economic  standpoint,  and  who  believe  that 
vicious  industrial  conditions  are  mainly  responsible  for  pov- 
erty concede  the  evil  part  the  excessive  use  of  liquor  plays 
as  a  cause  or  attendant  of  poverty.^ 

Two  conclusions  seem  reasonably  certain. 

First:  It  is  universally  conceded  that  either  as  a  direct 
cause,  or  an  indirect  one,  alcoholism  causes  a  great  deal  of 
poverty.  In  many  instances  it  may  be  the  direct  or  main 
cause,  in  many  others  it  is  the  "last  straw  that  breaks  the 
camel's  back."  There  is  poor  health,  natural  shiftlessness, 
or  misfortune,  and  then  drink  comes  in  to  complete  the  ruin. 
It  may  be  said  that  drink  in  that  case  is  an  effect,  but  it 
is  also  a  cause  of  further  suffering. 

Second:  Another  conclusion  is  also  reasonably  sure, 
namely,  that  there  are  many  who  never  become  objects  of 
public  charity,  who  live  an  impoverished  life  and  are  a 
weight  on  the  tone  and  life  of  the  community,  and  who  are 
in  this  condition  in  whole,  or  in  part,  through  drinking. 

As  a  minister  of  a  downtown  church  in  New  York  City, 
the  writer  had  an  opportunity  to  observe  this  at  close  range, 
and  in  order  to  be  sure  that  his  conclusions  were  not  excep- 
tional, he  consulted  a  number  of  other  ministers  who  had 
had  similar  pastorates,  where  they  came  into  close  contact 
with  the  poor,  and  found  that  they  had  come  to  like  con- 
clusions.   They  are — First:  there  are  many  who  do  not  seek 

1  See  Alcoholism  and  Social  Problem,  Lilian  Brandt,  Survey,  October 
1,  1910. 

2  See  Poverty  and  Social  Decay,  Alfred  Martin  Colwick,  Arena, 
January,  1901. 

16 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

charity,  who,  nevertheless,  do  not  have  sufficient  food  or 
shelter,  because  the  wage-earner  is  unable  to  retain  his  posi- 
tion because  of  drinking  habits.  Second :  the  wage-earner  is 
compelled  to  take  a  lower  grade  position  for  the  same  reason, 
and  thus  is  not  able  to  adequately  provide  for  his  family. 
And  third:  a  great  many  who  otherwise  might  have  lived 
in  better  neighborhoods  and  had  some  of  the  means  of  com- 
fort and  culture  were  denied  them  for  the  same  reason.  The 
outcome  must  be  still  worse  in  the  many  cases  where  no 
member  of  the  family  is  in  touch  with  the  church  or  other 
uplifting  agency.  What  is  true  of  New  York  City  is  doubt- 
less true  of  our  cities  generally.  The  net  result  is  a  large 
section  of  our  people  on  the  very  edge  of  pauperism,  and 
from  these  most  of  our  paupers  come.  This  is  not  intended 
as  a  reflection  upon  the  worthy  poor,  of  whom  there  are 
many,  and  who  are  as  a  class  very  distinct  from  this  other 
one  to  which  we  refer. 

(D)   The  Relation  of  Alcohol  to  Moral  Deficiency 
AND  Crime. 

It  is  very  difficult  to  get  the  data  upon  this  phase  of  the 
subject.  Many  police  departments  will  give  out  no  informa- 
tion on  the  subject,  some  others  present  reports  that  are  mis- 
leading.^ For  instance,  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis  in  1909 
there  were  38,128  arrests,  of  this  number  7,455  were  for 
"  Drunk  on  the  Street."  Undoubtedly  there  were  many 
other  arrests  where  the  real  cause  was  drunkenness,  but  they 
were  put  under  other  titles,  as  "  Disturbing  the  Peace,"  of 
which  there  were  9,343.2  rp^j^^  Atlanta,  Ga.,  for  1909; 
there  were  19,071  cases  of  arrest  and  of  these  3,741  are 
called  "Drunks,"  but  "Disorderly  Conduct"  had  10,075.^ 

1  See  Survey,  October,  1910,  p.  228. 

2  Annual  Report,  Police  Dept.,  1910,  p.  23. 

3  Annual  Report,  Chief  Police,  1909,  p.  23. 

17 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

Correspondence  with  the  Police  Department  of  Chicago  failed 
to  secure  any  information  concerning  that  city.  New  York 
gave  total  arrests  203,738,  Intoxication,  36,476,  and  Disor- 
derly Conduct,  47,589.^  Birmingham,  Ala.,  reported  ten  per 
cent  of  arrests  due  to  drunkenness. 

The  reports  from  British  cities  were  much  more  complete 
and  careful.  Take,  for  instance,  Edinburgh,  Liverpool,  and 
London  as  illustrations.  Edinburgh,  54.32  per  cent  of  total 
apprehensions  in  1909  were  for  drunkenness,  18.54  per  cent 
of  the  balance  were  under  the  influence  of  liquor  when  ar- 
rested. Liverpool,  in  1909,  total  arrests  19,378,  and  of  these 
9,589  were  for  drunkenness.  London,  total  arrests,  113,300 
— 51,521  for  drunkenness.^  These  results  are  in  the  main 
in  harmony  with  those  obtained  by  the  Committee  of  Fifty 
and  by  the  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor. 
The  Committee  of  Fifty  found,  "as  a  final  result,  that  in- 
temperance occurred  on  the  average  in  31.18  per  cent  of  all 
cases."  ^ 

The  Massachusetts  report  says,  "  Out  of  26,672  convic- 
tions for  various  offenses  during  the  preceding  twelve  months 
(1894)  17,575  or  65.89  per  cent  of  all  convictions  were  for 
drunkenness  in  whole  or  in  part."  *  Hugh  C.  Weir  gives 
the  figures  for  the  United  States  for  1909,  in  round  num- 
bers, as  follows:  Total  arrests,  786,000;  for  drunkenness, 
350,000.**  These  figures  are  fairly  definite  and  for  the  rea- 
son more  reliable  than  any  figures  that  could  be  given  on 
poverty  or  insanity,  for  they  represent  the  actual  condition 
of  drunkenness  when  the  arrest  was  made,  but  it  must  be 
remembered  that  the  actual  arrests  for  drunkenness  do  not 

1  Annual  Report,  Police  Commission,  pp.  9  and  21. 

*  Obtained  by  personal  correspondence  with  police  courts  of  these 
cities. 

'  Summary,  Committee  of  Fifty,  p.  123. 

*  Report,  pp.  124-125. 

*  Menace  of  Police,  World  of  Today,  January,  1910. 

18 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

tell  all  the  story  of  the  relation  between  the  excessive  use 
of  alcohol  and  crime,  for  many  crimes  are  committed  while 
under  the  influence  of  liquor  that  would  not  otherwise  be 
committed.  Dr.  Otto  Juliusburger,  writing  on  this  phase  of 
the  subject  says,  "  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  main  source 
of  crime  is  to  be  found  in  the  excessive  use  of  alcohol; 
statistics  prove  this.  The  results,  for  instance,  obtained  by 
the  municipality  of  Zurich,  Switzerland,  are  striking.  In 
one  week  in  1891,  116  persons  were  sentenced  for  inflicting 
bodily  injuries.  The  deeds  were  committed  on  Saturday  by 
18,  on  Sunday  by  60,  on  Monday  by  22,  and  on  each  of  the 
other  days  of  the  week  by  four  persons.  In  the  City  of 
Edinburgh  the  arrests  for  intoxication  between  eight  o'clock 
Sunday  morning  and  eight  o'clock  Monday  morning  were, 
during  two  years,  1,357.  This  was  before  the  closure  of 
the  saloons  on  Sunday.  After  the  closure,  the  arrests  were 
328,  and  in  1896-7  only  223,  in  spite  of  the  increased  popu- 
lation. In  Ireland  the  imprisonments  on  Sunday  in  1877-8 
amounted  to  4,555  before  the  compulsory  closing  on  Sun- 
days, but  from  1885  to  1886  only  2,500  arrests  were  made, 
though  the  law  was  only  effectual  in  part."  He  then  quotes 
Sir  Richard  Temple,  of  the  British  Army,  to  the  effect, 
"  that  if  the  soldiers  could  only  stop  drinking  they  would  be' 
practically  free  from  crimes  and  military  faults."  He  also 
quotes  the  Swiss  Surgeon  General  to  the  same  effect.^ 

The  studies  thus  far  presented  in  this  section  refer  only 
to  the  arrests  made  for  drunkenness  and  to  the  relation  of 
drunkenness  to  crime  as  it  has  come  under  the  official  notice 
of  the  police.  But  it  is  a  well-known  fact  that  only  a  small 
part  of  those  that  get  drunk  are  arrested.  It  is  from  this 
class  that  nearly  all  criminals  come.  It  might  fitly  be  called 
"  the  near-criminal  class."  No  data  for  this  class  are  avail- 
able; nevertheless,  in  summing  up  the  relation  of  alcoholism 

^  Alcohol  and  Crime,  Hilfe  (Berlin),  December,  1905. 
19 


MORAL  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIQUOR   BUSINESS. 

to  crime,  this  large  class,  because  of  its  afifiliation  with  drink- 
ing and  the  associations  of  drink,  must  be  taken  into  account. 
Such  a  condition  as  this  study  of  the  relation  of  alcoholism 
to  crime  reveals,  and  the  presence  of  a  large  "  near-criminal " 
class  in  the  community  are  a  constant  menace  to  the  moral 
well-being  of  the  community,  and  must  be  a  powerful  factor 
in  lowering  the  moral  tone  of  the  whole  people. 


CHAPTEE    II. 

THE   INFLUENCE   OF   THE   SALOON   IN  THE   COMMUNITY. 

The  saloon  is  singled  out  in  this  discussion  because  it  is 
the  chief  factor  in  the  question  before  us.  There  are  other 
places  where  liquor  is  sold,  as  in  the  grocery  store,  and  some- 
times illegally  in  the  drug  store,  then  there  is  the  hotel  bar, 
which  for  all  practical  purposes  may  be  regarded  as  a  saloon. 

The  influence  of  the  saloon  must  be  studied  from  two 
standpoints:  (A)  The  saloon's  influence  in  creating  and  de- 
veloping the  drink  habit;  (B)  the  influence  of  the  saloon 
itself  as  an  institution. 

(A)  The  Character  of  the  Saloon  as  a  Creator  and 
Developer  of  the  Habit  of  Drink. 

We  are  well  aware  of  the  fact  that  many  drunkards  con- 
tract the  habit  at  home  or  in  the  public  restaurant  where 
liquor  is  freely  used.  We  also  recognize  the  fact  that  evil 
companions  are  often  responsible  for  bringing  the  young  man 
or  woman  to  the  place  where  the  liquor  is  sold.  Still,  when 
all  considerations  are  weighed,  it  must  be  evident  that  the 
saloon  is  a  great  factor  in  the  creation  of  the  habit,  and  cer- 
tainly the  most  potent  factor  in  developing  it. 

The  very  essence  of  the  business  of  the  liquor  dealer  must 
be  to  increase  his  sales;  this  is  the  essence  of  any  business 
proposition,  and  it  is  not  possible  for  a  man  to  engage  in  this 
business  without  having  this  spirit.  This  being  true,  we  find 
him  putting  up  his  wares  in  all  sorts  of  attractive  forms. 
The  mixer  of  drinks  in  the  high-toned  saloons  is  an  artist. 
The  preparation  of  the  article  for  the  market  is  a  business, 

21 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

not  only  of  gigantic  proportion,  but  one  requiring  the  highest 
skill  and  efficiency.  So  that  we  have  here  a  great  business, 
involving  many  branches,  with  great  capital  and  business 
ability  and  genius,  seeking  to  enlarge  its  trade.  The  sale  of 
the  various  brands  of  liquor  is  pushed  by  every  attractive 
advertising  scheme  known  to  men.  The  saloons  themselves 
are  made  social  centers,  chairs,  tables,  and  various  conve- 
niences are  provided,  the  place  is  nearly  always  more  attrac- 
tive in  the  poorer  sections  than  the  homes  of  the  patrons. 
Free  lunches,  music,  and  other  attractions  are  provided. 
Ever3rthing  is  done  to  make  the  place  as  attractive  as  pos- 
sible, and  all  to  the  end  of  doing  business.  The  proprietor 
has  a  keen  eye  to  the  sales.  If  one  frequents  a  place  and 
does  not  buy,  he  soon  finds  that  he  is  not  welcome,  and  often 
when  the  sales  lag  the  saloon  keeper  himself  treats  to  start 
business  going  again.  The  social  nature  of  man  makes  him 
a  prey  to  the  evil  temptation,  and  the  treating  system  so 
common  in  the  American  saloon  is  one  of  its  vicious  fea- 
tures. In  the  correspondence  of  the  various  charity  organi- 
zations this  note  is  sounded  many  times.  Says  the  Super- 
intendent of  the  Associated  Charities  of  Erie,  Pa. :  "  In  my 
judgment  the  saloon  has  undoubtedly  some  influence  in  de- 
veloping the  drink  habit.  I  feel,  however,  that  while  in  the 
last  analysis  the  saloon  may  be  held  to  blame,  the  real  cause 
of  developing  the  drink  habit  is  the  treating  system.  One 
may  go  to  the  saloon,  enjoy  his  glass  of  beer  and  leave,  but 
when  he  meets  his  friends  and  has  several  rounds  of  drink, 
the  craving  grows,  and  sometimes  becomes  so  strong  that 
weaker  persons  cannot  throw  it  off." 

The  power  of  the  saloon  to  make  drunkards  is  increased  by 
several  things.  First,  there  may  be  an  inherited  tendency 
toward  drink,  for  even  if  acquired  characteristics  cannot  be 
transmitted,  conditions  produced  by  the  drinking  of  the 
mother  before  birth  will  result  in  such  constitutional  weak- 
ness on  the  part  of  the  child  as  to  predispose  it  toward  stimu- 

22 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

lants.  And  again,  the  dipsomania  may  be  a  permanent  trait 
and  be  directly  inherited,  but  may  remain  dormant  until  the 
occasion  arises  which  the  saloon  or  other  drinking  places  fur- 
nish. The  other  thing  that  increases  the  power  of  the  saloon 
in  the  development  of  the  drink  habit  is  the  increasing  ten- 
sion of  our  modern  life,  resulting  in  an  increasing  number 
of  nervous  disorders,  and  consequently  an  increasing  demand 
for  stimulation.  This  stimulation  is  frequently  found  in  the 
saloon. 

In  the  correspondence  with  the  police  department  of  vari- 
ous cities  it  was  diflScult  to  get  an  answer  to  the  question, 
"  What,  in  your  ;judgment,  is  the  influence  of  the  saloon  in 
developing  the  habit  of  drink  ?  "  Only  four  answers  were 
received  from  forty  cities.  Two  of  these  were  from  the 
IJnited  States — St.  Louis,  Mo.,  and  Birmingham,  Ala.  The 
Chief  of  Police  in  St.  Louis  says :  "  Experience  has  shown 
that  the  well-regulated,  orderly  saloon  does  not  tend  to  de- 
velop or  promote  the  drinking  habit."  The  Chief  of  Police 
at  Birmingham  says:  "None!  I  would  rather  have  saloons 
than  to  have  prohibition,  because  with  proper  restrictions  and 
high  license  the  liquor  traffic  can  be  handled  much  better 
than  to  have  blind  tigers  all  over  the  city."  Strangely 
enough,  the  other  two  are  British,  The  report  from  Edin- 
burgh is:  "Unquestionably  the  saloon  does  tend  to  develop 
the  habit  of  drink,  but  the  suppression  of  public-houses  would 
not  entirely  suppress  drunkenness  or  even  liquor  selling." 
London  says :  "  To  a  certain  extent  it  does  influence  a  devel- 
opment of  drink  habit."  The  reports  from  charity  organiza- 
tions are  all  to  the  effect  that  the  saloon  is  a  factor  in  devel- 
oping the  habit;  a  few  typical  answers  to  the  same  question 
will  suffice  for  our  purpose.  Eock  Island:  "The  influence 
of  the  saloon  is  very  bad;  it  certainly  develops  the  drink 
habit."  Baltimore :  "  In  my  judgment  the  saloon  as  now 
constituted  is  very  influential  in  developing  the  drink  habit." 
Buffalo :  "  Of  course  the  saloon  increases  drinking  and  has  a 

23 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

dangerous  influence/'  Eoanoke :  "  Very  great  factor."  Mil- 
waukee :  *'  In  young  men  very  bad."  Pittsburg :  "  The  saloon 
keeps  temptation  constantly  in  the  way  of  those  who  live  in 
the  poorer  districts ;  congregating  in  saloons  induces  treating, 
which  develops  habits  of  drink."  This  from  Birmingham  is 
interesting  in  view  of  the  statements  of  the  Chief  of  Police 
from  that  city :  "  I  have  not  a  bit  of  hesitancy  in  stating  that 
it  is  axiomatic  that  the  saloon  makes  a  man  drink." 

Thus  we  see  an  immense  business,  equipped  with  every- 
thing that  money  or  business  ability  can  procure,  at  work  in 
the  community  pushing  its  wares,  although  one  of  the  neces- 
sary results  of  it  must  be  the  making  of  drunkards ;  and  many 
men,  because  of  inherited  weaknesses,  or  because  of  nerve 
strain,  peculiarly  susceptible  to  i^i 

(B)  The  Character  of  the  Saloon  Itself  as  an 
Institution. 

We  must  bear  in  mind  certain  facts  in  this  phase  of  the 
discussion.  That  there  are  many  kind-hearted  men  engaged 
in  the  liquor  business.  That  they  do  many  charitable  things. 
That  the  saloon  does  attempt  to  fill  a  certain  social  need  of 
the  conamunity.  This  social  need  is  a  real  need  and  very 
little  is  being  done  to  meet  it.  To  be  sure  the  saloon  is 
making  an  asset  of  this  need  and  using  it  to  advance  its  own 
interests,  but  nevertheless  it  is  meeting  it  in  its  own  way 
more  generally  than  is  any  other  agency.  We  must  remember 
also  that  saloons  vary  in  character  to  a  very  marked  degree, 
and  what  we  say  may  not  apply  to  all  saloons,  but  it  will 
apply  to  the  average  one. 

First.  The  saloon  is  a  lawless  institution.  Its  whole  his- 
tory, in  this  country  at  least,  shows  a  tendency  to  disregard 
the  law.  It  makes  no  difference  what  the  character  of  the 
laws.  In  prohibition  states  the  law  is  violated.  In  high- 
license  states  the  same  thing  holds  true.  We  are  not  dis- 
cussing at  this  point  the  relative  effectiveness  of  any  particu- 

24 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

lar  liquor  legislation.  We  are  simply  pointing  out  the  lawless 
character  of  the  saloon.  There  is  a  good  deal  of  discussion 
about  the  failure  of  prohibition  to  prohibit,  and  one  would 
think  that  the  liquor  dealers  were  docile  law-abiding  men  in 
states  where  they  have  what  they  call  reasonable  laws,  but  in 
license  states  where  there  are  restrictions  as  to  hours  of  sale, 
sales  on  Sunday,  or  to  minors,  etc.,  every  single  restriction  is 
violated  with  impunity,  unless  the  saloon  is  held  down  by 
the  iron  hand  of  physical  authority. 

In  the  State  of  New  York  there  were  2,424  convictions  for 
excise  violations  during  the  year  ending  September  30,  1909. 
These  are  reported  by  the  excise  department  and  include 
only  civil  cases.^  There  is  no  means  of  ascertaining  the 
number  of  convictions  for  criminal  violations  of  excise  law, 
but  it  doubtless  was  much  less.  This  statement  from  the 
Commissioner  is  significant :  "  No  business  that  ignores  or 
defies  law  in  the  main  can  continue  to  do  so  except  during 
the  quiescent  period  of  indifference  and  inattention  on  the 
part  of  the  people,  and  yet  certain  dealers  continue  to  break 
and  defy  law  and  to  do  everything  in  their  power  to  outlaw 
the  liquor  business,  thus  placing  it  in  a  blacklisted  class  all 
by  itself,  and  this  without  forceful  or  effective  protest  from 
the  better  class  of  liquor  dealers."  ^ 

At  the  Pittsburg  conference  for  good  city  government  in 
1908,  Mayor  Charles  Fiske,  of  Plainfield,  N.  J.,  chairman  of 
the  New  Jersey  Excise  Commission,  after  speaking  of  a 
reasonable  enforcement  of  the  excise  laws  in  the  interior 
towns,  acknowledges  its  violations  in  many  of  the  larger  cities 
and  along  the  coast.  He  ascribes  it  to  four  things:  (1)  Po- 
litical influence,  (2)  laxity  in  granting  licenses,  (3)  brewery 
influence,  (4)  law-breaking  drinking  public.^  A  proof  of 
the  charge  is  found  in  the  situation  in  San  Francisco.    After 

1  Excise  Report,  1909,  pp.  21-2. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  48. 

'  Report,  p.  62. 

25 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

the  earthquake  and  fire  the  saloons  were  closed  entirely  and 
remarkably  good  order  was  preserved,  but  a  few  months  later, 
when  the  saloons  were  opened,  there  was  a  great  increase  in 
disorder  and  crime. ^  A  similar  situation  existed  in  Spring- 
field, Ohio,  after  the  lynching  of  1907,  when  the  citizens  peti- 
tioned the  legislature  to  increase  the  license  to  $1,000  for 
the  express  purpose  of  forcing  out  the  lower  grade  saloons 
which  they  felt  were  responsible  for  the  disorder. ^  The 
writer  lived  in  Iowa  during  the  period  when  prohibition  was 
supposed  to  be  state-wide.  The  violation  of  the  law  in  the 
river  towns  was  notorious.  Finally,  the  situation  became  so 
acute  that  it  was  felt  that  something  must  be  done.  The 
saloon  men,  through  their  political  representatives,  promised 
that  they  would  obey  any  license  law  that  permitted  them 
to  do  business,  no  matter  how  strict  it  was.  As  a  result  the 
Mulct  law  was  enacted.  About  that  time  the  writer  moved 
from  a  smaller  town  to  Sioux  City,  Iowa,  and  found  there 
was  scarcely  a  provision  as  to  closing  hours,  screens,  Sunday 
closing,  etc.,  that  was  not  ignored.  The  situation  as  to  Sun- 
day closing  in  New  York  is  well  known.  The  Society  for  the 
Prevention  of  Crime  made  an  investigation  in  the  Borough 
of  Brooklyn  on  Sunday,  May  7,  1911,  to  see  if  the  saloons 
obeyed  the  Sunday  closing  requirements.  Their  agents  vis- 
ited 250  saloons,  found  everyone  of  them  open,  and  were 
refused  liquor  in  only  two  places. 

This  has  been  the  situation  in  New  York  for  many  years. 
During  the  time  that  Mr.  Roosevelt  was  Commissioner  of 
Police  an  attempt  was  made  to  compel  the  enforcement  of 
the  law,  but  his  retirement  made  it  short-lived.  The  situa- 
tion as  it  existed  ten  years  ago  is  discussed  in  Volume  V, 
"  Municipal  Affairs,"  pages  833,  855,  and  870,  where  the 
lawlessness  of  the  saloon,  especially  with  regard  to  the  Sunday 
laws  is  taken  as  a  matter  of  fact. 

1  Outlook,  83,  pp.  631-2.  « Ibid.,  82,  p.  820. 

26 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

Mr.  Ray  Stannard  Baker  gives  the  results  of  his  investi- 
gation of  the  Newark,  Ohio,  riots  in  the  American  Magazine 
for  April,  1911.  The  lawless  character  of  the  saloon  business 
in  that  city  can  best  be  illustrated  by  an  excerpt  from  a  letter 
to  Mr.  Baker  from  a  Mr.  Bigbee  of  that  city.  Mr.  Bigbee 
himself  had  been  a  distiller  and  saloon-keeper  for  fourteen 
years,  and  he  says  he  tried  to  observe  the  law.  He  has  this  to 
say  concerning  conditions  prevailing  in  Newark  during  that 
period :  "  I  became  a  distiller  and  liquor  dealer  in  a  small 
way  in  the  spring  of  1881,  and  while  one  of  the  very  first 
resolutions  I  made  was  that  I  would  do  business  as  near  ac- 
cording to  law  as  it  could  be  done,  I  noticed  that  the  busi- 
ness, as  a  rule,  was  being  conducted  in  exactly  the  opposite 
direction ;  that  is,  contrary  to  law  in  almost  every  particular, 
and  by  almost  every  dealer.  Of  the  fourteen  years  that  I 
was  engaged  in  the  wholesale  and  retail  liquor  business  in 
this  city,  it  is  an  undeniable  fact  that,  so  far  as  law  enforce- 
ment was  concerned,  there  was  at  least  ten  years  of  the  time 
that  the  city  had  no  mayor,  or  at  least  no  executive.  It  is 
true  that  we  had  men  in  the  mayor's  oflSce,  men  who  never 
missed  a  day's  pay  during  the  entire  time,  but  also  it  is 
equally  true  that  they  missed  everything  else  pertaining  to 
the  office  in  an  executive  way,  and  lawlessness  reigned  su- 
preme. Liquor  was  sold  to  anybody  and  everybody  by  some 
of  the  dealers.  Prostitutes  were  allowed  to  promenade  the 
streets  in  company  with  their  gentlemen  friends  at  any  time 
of  the  day  or  night.  And  lawlessness  of  almost  every  kind 
became  so  rampant  that  respectable  competition  in  the  liquor 
business  was  in  a  manner  destroyed,  and  as  the  number  of 
saloons  gradually  increased,  the  morals  of  the  business  became 
lower  and  lower." 

Mr.  Will  Irwin,  in  describing  the  conditions  in  the  South 
that  have  made  possible  the  prohibition  wave  over  that  part 
of  the  country,  says :  "  Everjrwhere  the  saloons  have  dis- 
obeyed in  the  most  flagrant  fashion  all  the  rules  made  for 

27 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

their  government  and  regulation,  and  when  put  under  pres- 
sure to  reform  they  have  fought  back  through  their  character- 
istic alliance  with  bad  politics.  So  insolent  has  been  the  atti- 
tude not  only  of  the  saloon-keeper,  but  also  the  brewers,  dis- 
tillers, and  wholesale  liquor  men,  that  many  communities 
have  gone  dry  simply  because  of  the  disgust  which  this  atti- 
tude has  bred  in  good  citizens."  ^ 

That  this  is  the  spirit  of  the  traffic  is  illustrated  by  the 
following,  taken  from  an  editorial  in  the  Wine  and  Spirits 
News  of  July  2,  1902 :  "  This  is  a  land  where  the  majority 
should  prevail,  but  where  a  majority  seeks  to  determine  what 
the  minority  should  drink  or  wear,  the  rule  does  not  obtain^ 
and  it  never  will,  and  no  one  is  a  lawbreaker  who  insists  on 
asserting  his  rights  from  the  standpoint  of  taste,  where  an 
arbitrary  sumptuary  statute  has  been  forced  upon  him  by  a 
fanatical  majority."  This  lawless  attitude  has  so  generally 
been  the  practice  that  it  may  be  safely  said  that  the  law- 
abiding  saloon  is  the  exception. 

Second.  The  bad  influence  upon  the  moral  conditions  and 
the  well-being  of  the  community. 

The  direct  relation  of  drinking  to  crime  and  immorality 
inculpates  the  saloon,  especially  in  view  of  the  fact  that  it  is 
a  big  factor  in  making  drunkards.  But  beyond  this  it  is 
generally  known  that  the  saloon  business  has  a  direct  effect 
upon  the  morals  and  good  order  of  the  community.  Its  very 
presence  seems  to  have  a  deadening  effect  upon  the  moral 
sensibilities.  The  courts  throughout  the  land  have  spoken 
decidedly  upon  this  matter.  The  Illinois  Supreme  Court  in 
Schonchow  vs.  Chicago,  68  sec.,  444,  says :  "  We  presume  no 
one  would  have  the  hardihood  to  contend  that  the  retail  sale 
of  intoxicating  drinks  does  not  tend,  in  a  large  degree,  to 
demoralize  the  community,  to  foster  vice,  produce  crime  and 
beggary,  want  and  misery."     The  Supreme  Court  of  Idaho 

1  Collier's  Weekly,  February  29,  1908. 
28 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

in  State  vs.  Galloway,  Idaho  719,  says:  "  It  is  recognized,  and 
also  is  a  well-known  fact  in  history,  that  much  evil  results 
from  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquor."  The  Supreme  Court 
of  Indiana  in  Schmidt  vs.  City,  80  N.  B.  Rep.  632,  says: 
"  The  evils  which  attend  and  inhere  in  the  business  of  han- 
dling and  selling  intoxicating  liquors  are  universally  recog- 
nized, and  the  danger  therefrom  to  the  peace  and  good  order 
of  the  community  everywhere  necessitates  exercise  of  the 
police  power."  And  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
confirms  this  in  Mugler  vs.  Kansas  8  Sup.  Ct.  Rep.  297.  Mr. 
Justice  Harlan  says :  "  We  cannot  shut  out  of  view  the  fact 
within  the  knowledge  of  all,  that  the  public  health,  the  pub- 
lic morals,  and  the  public  safety,  may  be  endangered  by  the 
general  use  of  intoxicating  drinks;  nor  the  fact  established 
by  statistics  accessible  to  everyone  that  idleness,  disorder, 
pauperism,  and  crime  existing  in  the  country  are,  in  some 
degree  at  least,  traceable  to  this  evil."  And  more  emphatic 
still  is  the  language  of  the  decision  in  Gowley  vs.  Christensen 
137  U.  S.  86,  Sup.  Court  Rep.  13,  which  says:  "By  the 
general  concurrence  of  opinion  of  every  civilized  and  Chris- 
tian community,  there  are  few  sources  of  crime  and  misery 
to  society  equal  to  the  dram-shop,  where  intoxicating  liquors, 
in  small  quantities,  to  be  drunk  at  the  time,  are  sold  indis- 
criminately to  all  parties  applying.  The  statistics  of  every 
state  show  a  greater  amount  of  crime  and  misery  attributable 
to  the  use  of  ardent  spirits  obtained  at  these  retail  liquor 
saloons  than  to  any  other  source." 

The  seriousness  of  this  charge  against  the  saloon  is  in- 
creased by  the  fact  of  its  alliance  with  many  forms  of  vice. 
It  is  notorious  that  the  lower  grades  of  saloons  are  often 
the  meeting  places  of  vicious  characters.  The  gambling  in- 
terests are  often  allied  with  the  saloon,  and  most  states  recog- 
nize this  in  their  police  regulations.  The  relation  of  the 
social  evil  to  the  saloon  is  well  illustrated  by  the  history  of 
the  Raines  Law  Hotels  in  New  York  City.     Under  the  old 

29 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

Haines  Law  a  license  might  be  issued  to  a  saloon  with  ten 
sleeping  rooms,  and  these  often  became  nothing  more  or  less 
than  houses  of  assignation.  It  was  shown  by  the  investiga- 
tions inaugurated  by  the  prohibition  workers  in  the  South 
that  the  closest  relations  existed  between  the  saloon  and  the 
houses  of  prostitution.  In  some  cases  the  saloon  kept  what 
was  called  "The  Blue  Book/'  which  could  be  secured  by 
anyone  desiring  it.  It  was  nothing  less  than  a  description  of 
the  lewd  women  in  the  neighborhood  and  the  addresses  where 
they  could  be  found.  Now  we  do  not  claim  that  the  saloon 
is  the  sole  source  of  these  dangerous  and  immoral  conditions, 
but  simply  that  it  is  a  prolific  source,  and  that  there  is  such 
a  natural  affinity  between  the  saloon  and  these  things  as  to 
make  the  saloon  a  menace  to  the  morality  and  social  order  of 
society.  This  is  the  attitude  of  the  whole  community  upon 
the  danger  and  lawlessness  of  the  saloon  as  expressed  by  our 
laws.  The  grocer  and  the  baker  and  other  dealers  are  not 
taxed  as  is  the  saloon.  What  a  protest  would  be  heard  if 
an  attempt  was  made  to  tax  bread  and  meat !  As  it  is,  there 
is  dissatisfaction  over  the  taxes  upon  our  imports,  when  the 
professed  purpose  is  to  protect  American  workmen.  The 
tax  upon  liquor  is  avowedly  because  of  its  addition  to  the 
cost  of  the  police  and  other  departments  of  government. 
Also,  no  other  line  of  business  is  so  hedged  about  with  all 
sorts  of  restrictions.  The  only  reason  for  it  is  the  universal 
recognition  of  the  dangers  and  lawlessness  inherent  in  the 
business. 

X  Third.  The  saloon  is  a  dangerous  and  pernicious  influence 
upon  our  political  life.  In  the  correspondence  with  the  vari- 
ous charity  organizations  of  this  country,  one  of  the  ques- 
tions asked  was,  "  What,  in  your  judgment,  is  the  influence 
of  the  saloon  upon  the  political  life  of  the  community  ?  "  and 
the  answers  without  exception  were  that  it  was  very  bad  and 
very  great.  The  only  qualification  given  at  all  was  a  state- 
ment made  by  one  of  the  correspondents  who  says,  "there 

30 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

are  some  orderly  saloons,"  but  over  against  this  is  the  state- 
ment of  another  correspondent,  who  says,  "  the  saloon  is  the 
very  center  of  political  corruption."  The  low  intelligence 
and  often  vicious  character  of  the  saloon-keeper  makes  him  a 
very  unsafe  man  to  trust  with  such  great  political  influence. 
An  editorial  in  McClure's  Magazine  for  October,  1908,  is  in 
point.  It  says  in  part :  "  There  is  in  America  a  particular 
and  special  concern  over  a  condition  which  may  be  believed 
to  be  unparalleled  in  human  history,  certainly  in  modern 
civilization — the  power  of  the  saloon  in  American  govern- 
ment, especially  the  government  of  cities. 

"  The  fact  is  notorious,  yet  the  condition  is  not  clearly  un- 
derstood; sixty  years  ago  with  the  first  flood  of  European 
immigration,  the  character  of  American  city  government 
changed  suddenly  and  entirely.  A  great  proportion  of  the 
peasantry  who  arrived  here  from  the  farms  of  Europe  stopped 
in  our  cities ;  they  were  isolated  from  the  rest  of  the  popula- 
tion; their  one  social  center  was  the  saloon,  and  out  of  this 
social  center  came  their  political  leaders  and  the  manipu- 
lators of  their  votes.  The  European  peasant  saloon-keeper, 
for  more  than  half  a  century,  has  been  the  ruler  of  a  great 
portion  of  American  cities.  The  case  of  Tammany  Hall,  for 
so  many  years  the  real  governing  body  of  New  York,  is  most 
familiar.  Its  politicians  for  half  a  century  have  graduated 
into  public  affairs  through  the  common  school  of  the  saloon. 
Its  leaders  at  the  present  time  are  perfect  examples  of  the 
European  peasant  saloon-keeper  type  which  has  come  to  gov- 
ern us.  The  same  conditions  exist  to  a  certain  extent  in 
nearly  every  one  of  the  larger  cities.  An  analysis  of  the  mem- 
bership of  the  boards  of  aldermen  in  these  cities  for  the  past 
few  decades  show  a  percentage  of  saloon-keepers  with  foreign 
names  which  is  astonishing.  The  results  of  the  political  in- 
fluence of  the  saloon  have  been  the  defeat  of  many  efforts  for 
better  sumptuary  laws,  and  the  nullification  of  laws  that  had 
restrictive  features  that  were   objectionable   to   the   saloon- 

31 


ECONOMIC  AND   MORAL  ASPECTS 

keeper.  This  influence  has  always  been  used  to  protect  vice 
in  the  many  forms  that  were  allied  with  the  saloons."  ^ 

The  influence  of  the  saloon  upon  the  police  departments  of 
our  cities  has  been  particularly  vicious.  In  our  correspon- 
dence with  the  police  departments  of  a  score  or  more  of  our 
cities,  large  and  small,  and  from  every  section  in  this  coun- 
try there  was  not  a  single  adverse  comment  upon  the  ques- 
tion concerning  the  influence  of  the  saloon  upon  (a)  the 
development  of  the  habit  of  drink,  (h)  upon  moral  condi- 
tions and  social  order  in  the  community  and  (c)  upon  the 
political  life  of  the  community.  Many  offered  no  comment 
at  all.  A  few  attempted  to  defend  the  saloon.  This  answer 
is  from  a  large  city  of  the  Middle  West :  "  Experience  has 
shown  that  the  well-regulated,  orderly  saloon  does  not  tend 
to  develop  or  promote  the  drinking  habit."     "  The  immoral 

phase  of  saloons  in  has  been  eliminated  long  since. 

The  laws  here  regulating  saloons  are  rigid  and  violations 
thereof  by  the  dram-shop  keepers  mean  the  loss  of  their 
licenses."  Such  testimony  is  interesting  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  in  so  many  large  cities  the  police  department  cannot 
or  will  not  enforce  the  restrictive  features  of  the  liquor  laws. 
In  New  York  there  has  been  not  only  a  close  understanding 
between  the  saloon-keepers  and  the  police,  but  in  many  in- 
stances graft  has  made  it  to  the  pecuniary  interest  of  the 
police  to  wink  at  violations  of  the  law.  There  seems  to  have 
been  an  understanding,  of  many  years'  standing,  between  the 
liquor  dealers  and  the  police.  The  Lexow  Committee  found 
that  prior  to  1892  a  general  system  of  blackmail  was  in 
vogue.  Every  liquor  dealer  was  compelled  to  pay  $20  per 
month  to  the  police  for  the  privilege  of  violating  the  law. 
Through  action  by  the  Liquor  Dealers'  Association  this  was 
stopped  in  1892.  This  seems  to  have  been  followed  by  an 
alliance  between   the   Liquor   Dealers'   Association  and   the 

1  See  Nation,  79,  p.  516;  also  Nat.  Con.  City  Gov.,  1908,  p.  426. 

32 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

dominant  party.  What  the  terms  were,  the  Lexow  Com- 
mittee was  unable  to  discover,  but  the  violation  of  the  law 
was  permitted  with  impunity.^ 

The  result  of  the  work  of  that  committee  was  a  tem- 
porary improvement,  but  in  1901  and  1902  the  agitation 
for  a  change  in  Sunday  laws  was  based  upon  the  same 
charges  of  graft.  These  conditions  were  not  eliminated  in 
1908,  as  the  following  from  a  speech  of  Dr.  John  P.  Peters, 
at  the  National  Conference  on  City  Government  held  in 
Pittsburg,  will  show.  Dr.  Peters  says,  "  The  city  politicians 
found  their  profit  from  the  traffic  in  a  manner  somewhat 
different  from  that  of  the  up-state  politicians.  Through 
threats  of  arrest  and  criminal  conviction  for  violation  of  ex- 
cise law,  they  levied  an  illegal  tax  on  the  traffic.  By  this 
means  practically  every  saloon,  whether  running  legally  or 
not,  was  compelled  to  pay  a  certain  monthly  sum,  which  was 
collected  directly  or  indirectly  through  the  police.  This  was 
supposed  to  be  payment  for  the  privilege  of  running  ille- 
gally, and  saloons  which  would  not  open  on  Sunday  were 
liable  to  special  persecution  by  '  framed '  cases  to  force  them 
to  run  illegally.  The  policy  of  state  and  city  officials  thus 
tended  to  degrade  and  criminalize  the  liquor  traffic  more  and 
more,  and  made  the  saloon  an  agent  of  increasing  political 
corruption."  ^  Hugh  C.  Weir  makes  a  similar  but  wider 
charge  against  the  Chicago  police.^  Josiah  Flynt  makes  a 
like  charge  against  the  police  in  the  pool-room  gambling.* 

The  political  influence  of  the  saloon  does  not  depend  alto- 
gether upon  the  money  paid  to  the  police  and  to  "the  man 
higher  up,"  but  having  assumed  the  role  of  the  poor  man's 
club,  the  saloon  is  one  of  the  most  powerful  factors  in  the 

^  Lexow  Committee  (State  Report),  vol.  i.,  pp.  40,  41. 

2  Nat.  Con.  City  Gov.,  1908,  p.  56;  see  also  Gunton,  vol.  xx.,  p.  244. 

3  World  To-day,  vol.  xviii.,  pp.  308-310;  see  also  pp.  599-606,  and 
vol.  xix.,  pp.  839-845. 

*  Cosmopolitan,  vol.  xliii.,  p.  161. 

33 


MORAL  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

primary  elections.  It  controls  votes,  and  if  necessary  it 
furnishes  the  sinews  of  war.  And  the  headquarters  for  the 
work  of  stuffing  the  ballot  box  is  usually  its  place  of  busi- 
ness.^ It  is  the  testimony  of  students  of  the  problem  that 
with  the  increasing  effort  to  control  the  saloon,  there  has 
come  an  increasing  degeneracy  of  the  saloon.  This  is  due 
perhaps  to  the  fact  that  the  effort  to  defend  itself  has  led 
the  saloon  into  all  sorts  of  extreme  measures,  but  the  fact 
remains  nevertheless  that  the  American  saloon  is  steadily 
growing  worse. 

To  review  the  charges  against  the  use  of,  and  traffic  in, 
liquors  we  have :  The  excessive  use  of  liquor  means  the  deteri- 
oration not  only  of  the  individual,  but  of  the  community 
itself  where  it  prevails.  The  excessive  use  of  liquor  is  to  be 
charged  with  a  large  per  cent  of  poverty,  sickness,  especially 
insanity,  and  crime  of  society,  and  is  a  contributing  cause 
of  much  more. 

The  saloon,  which  in  this  country  at  least  is  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  liquor  traffic,  is  a  powerful  factor  in  the 
development  of  the  drink  habit.  The  saloon  on  the  average, 
although  there  may  be  exceptions,  is  lawless  in  character, 
is  an  ally  of  vice  and  crime,  has  a  demoralizing  influence 
upon  the  morals  and  social  order  of  the  community,  and  is 
a  pernicious  and  powerful  factor  in  the  political  life  of  the 
city  and  state. 

'  See  CoUier's  Weekly,  February  29,  1908. 


34 


CHAPTEE   III. 

THF  ECONOMIC   ASPECTS   OF   THE   QUESTION. 

The  study  of  the  economic  aspects  of  the  question  is  very 
important.  Not  because  it  has  to  do  with  larger  values,  for 
the  opposite  of  that  is  true.  But  because  of  the  fact  that 
the  economic  bearings  of  a  reform  have  much  to  do  with 
hastening,  retarding,  or  even  preventing  its  consummation. 
When  a  reform  must  contend  against  large  financial  in- 
terests its  progress  is  very  slow  and  if  it  so  happens  that 
these  financial  interests  are  helps  to  material  advancement, 
then  progress  is  practically  impossible.  On  the  other  hand, 
if  an  evil  is  an  economic  burden  to  the  people  the  chances 
for  success  are  increased.  This  chapter  will  not  be  an  at- 
tempt to  exhaustively  consider  the  economic  aspects  of  the 
liquor  business,  for  the  data  cannot  be  secured  for  such  a 
thing  even  if  it  were  desirable.  But  there  are  certain  facts 
which  will  clearly  set  before  us  the  proportions  of  the  case. 

(A)  The  Misdirection  of  Capital,  Labor,  and  Material. 

For  the  year  ending  December  31,  1910,  there  were  $659,- 
547,620  invested  in  the  manufacture  of  liquor.  There  were 
68,340  wage  earners  employed.  There  were  29,327,437 
bushels  of  grain  and  42,293,073  gallons  of  molasses  used  in 
the  production  of  liquor.  This  product  does  not  represent 
any  food  or  other  value,  that  in  any  way  can  increase  the  re- 
sources or  advance  the  development  of  society.  If  it  is  said 
that  68,340  people  found  employment  through  the  business, 
it  can  also  be  said  on  the  other  side  that  the  amount  of 

35 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

capital  invested  employs  fewer  men  and  women  than  any 
other  line  of  business.    The  following  taken  from  the  Bureau 
of  Census  Reports  for  1905  will  illustrate  this  fact: 
Iron,  steel,  and  their  products,  number  of  wage  earners 

for  each  $1,000,000  invested  496 

Lumber  and  its  manufactures            "            "  726 

Leather  and  its  finished  products       "            "  580 

Pdper  and  printing                             "            "  439 

Vehicles  for  land  transportation        "            "  858 

Liquors  and  beverages                         "            "  104 

This  means  that  if  that  amount  of  capital  had  been  invested 
in  some  of  these  other  lines  of  business,  that  the  entire 
product  of  the  business  would  have  been  added  to  the  re- 
sources of  society,  and  that  in  addition  500  to  800  per  cent 
more  people  would  have  been  employed.  A  few  comparisons 
will  show  what  that  capital  would  have  meant  to  society  if 
invested  in  other  kinds  of  business.  In  the  manufacture 
of  flour  and  grist  mills'  product  $218,714,104  are  invested, 
there  were  37,073  wage  earners,  wages  $17,703,000,  and 
$415,826,345  worth  of  raw  material  was  used.  Clothing, 
$120,620,351  invested,  120,950  wage  earners,  $45,505,778 
wages,  $145,295,248  worth  of  materials  used.^ 

In  addition  to  the  above  there  is  the  money  invested  in 
the  wholesale  and  retail  trade,  for  which  there  are  no  avail- 
able data  and  which  must  be  a  large  sum.  There  are  259,780 
wholesale  and  retail  dealers.^  If  this  money  and  these  men 
could  be  turned  to  a  useful  industry,  an  immense  impetus 
would  be  given  to  business  activity  of  the  country. 

(B)  The  Direct  Cost  of  the  Liquor  Traffic. 

(a)  For  the  year  1909  the  people  of  the  United  States 
spent  $1,745,300,385  for  drink.     These  figures  are  so  large 

^  Twelfth  Census  Report,  vol.  ix.,  Manufacturers,  part  3. 
'  This  does  not  include  bartenders,  etc. 
36 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

that  it  is  difficult  to  appreciate  them.  The  United  States 
debt  is  $913,317,490.  Our  National  Government  expenses 
were  $622,324,445.  Exports,  $1,663,011,104.  Imports, 
$1,311,920,224.  If  this  immense  sum  were  spent  for  food, 
clothing,  and  other  necessaries  and  comforts  of  life,  there 
would  be  not  only  a  vast  improvement  in  general  conditions 
because  of  the  great  abundance,  but  the  employment  for 
nearly  two  million  more  people  than  are  now  employed  by 
the  liquor  business.^ 

(h)  There  is  another  item  of  direct  cost  of  the  liquor 
traffic,  but  we  have  no  means  of  expressing  it  in  dollars  and 
cents.  It  is  the  loss  in  labor.  There  is  (1)  the  loss  of  the 
labor  of  the  thousands  who  are  prematurely  cut  off  by  ex- 
cessive use  of  liquor.  We  have  no  means  of  knowing  how 
many  there  are  in  this  country.  It  has  been  variously 
estimated  up  to  100,000  per  year.  At  least  there  are  many 
thousands.  The  shortening  of  life  on  the  average  could  not 
be  less  than  ten  years.  If  the  most  conservative  estimate  is 
adopted,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  economic  loss  is  enormous. 

(2)  In  addition  to  these  there  are  the  many  unemployed 
and  incompetent  because  of  the  drink  habit.  The  many  who 
are  working  with  diminished  efficiency  for  the  same  reason 
and  the  multitude  who  lack  the  physical  vitality  and  courage 
to  do  efficient  work  because  of  their  own  or  another's  exces- 
sive use  of  drink.  As  has  been  said  we  have  no  exact  data 
upon  this  phase  of  the  case.  It  may  be  that  in  most  cases 
liquor  is  one  of  many  causes.  Still  it  is  evident  that .  the 
facts  are  sufficiently  clear  to  suggest  an  appalling  loss  to 
the  economic  assets  of  society. 

(C)  The  Indirect  Cost  of  the  Liquor  Tkaffio. 

By  this  we  mean  the  increased  cost  to  society  of  police  de- 
partment courts,  hospitals,  prisons,  jails,  care  of  the  insane 

*  Year  Book  Anti-Saloon  League,  1911. 
37 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

and  paupers,  etc.,  because  of  the  presence  and  evil  effects  of 
the  saloon  in  the  community.  There  are  many  friends  of 
the  saloon  who  declare  that  the  license  fees  take  care  of  all 
this  and  leave  a  good  balance.  For  reasons  which  are  ap- 
parent we  cannot  reduce  the  evidence  to  statistical  tables,  for 
as  has  been  said,  the  exact  data  upon  these  subjects  cannot 
be  obtained.  Yet  the  facts  themselves  can  be  known. 

Take  the  case  of  New  York  City,  a  most  favorable  illus- 
tration for  the  saloon  because  of  the  high  license  paid. 

The  standing  committee  on  hospitals  of  the  State  Char- 
ities Aid  Association  has  this  to  say  upon  the  single  item 
of  intoxication :  "  The  report  of  the  Boston  Committee 
estimated  that  one-eighth  of  the  expense  of  the  police  de- 
partment of  Boston  was  necessitated  by  the  cost  of  arresting 
and  caring  for  cases  of  intoxication;  this  estimate  applied 
to  New  York  City  would  mean  that  $1,650,000  are  expended 
in  New  York  annually  for  this  purpose.  The  actual  cost  of 
maintenance  of  the  Magistrates'  Courts  is  approximately 
$400,000.  Twenty-three  per  cent  of  all  cases  that  come  be- 
fore these  courts  are  arrested  for  intoxication;  in  other 
words,  it  costs  the  city  $92,000  annually  to  try  the  persons 
charged  with  intoxication.  The  annual  cost  of  maintenance 
of  the  Department  of  Corrections  is  approximately  $1,000,- 
000,  at  least  one-fourth  of  the  inmates  of  the  institutions 
under  its  care  are  serving  sentences  for  intoxication,  i.  e., 
about  $250,000  are  expended  annually  by  the  City  of  New 
York  for  custodial  care  for  persons  arrested  for  intoxication. 

"  In  Bellevue  and  allied  hospitals  there  are  annually  from 
7,000  to  9,000  cases  of  alcoholism,  and  in  the  hospitals  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Department  of  Public  Charities  there 
are  annually  2,000  cases.  This  means  that  the  persons 
treated  in  the  municipal  hospitals  for  alcoholism  alone,  to 
say  nothing  about  other  diseases  brought  on  by  alcohol,  cost 
the  city  at  least  $320,000  annually. 

"  The  present  annual  cost  to  the  city  of  New  York  for  the 

38 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

treatment  of  public  intoxication  is,  therefore,  if  these  con- 
servative estimates  are  correct,  $2,412,000."  ^ 

As  has  been  said  this  is  for  the  single  item  of  public  in- 
toxication.    To  this  must  be  added  the  following: 

(a)  The  permanent  care  of  the  alcoholic  insane  of  all 
kinds. 

(&)  The  whole  cost  for  the  arrest,  trial,  and  conviction  of 
criminals  made  such  by  the  excessive  use  of  liquor. 

(c)  I'hat  proportion  of  prison  expenses  which  is  charge- 
able to  the  care  of  criminals  who  have  become  such  through 
drink. 

(d)  The  permanent  care  of  the  paupers  who  have  become 
such  in  part  or  whole  through  their  own  intemperance,  or 
that  of  parents  upon  whom  they  depended  for  support. 

The  totals  of  these  items  would  be  very  large,  and  it  is 
very  doubtful  whether  the  license  money  of  New  York's 
between  10,500  and  11,000  saloons  would  pay  the  bill.  Then, 
besides  this,  all  the  graft  and  waste  resulting  from  the  cor- 
rupt alliance  of  the  saloon  and  politics  must  be  taken  into 
account. 

The  most  dangerous  phase  of  the  revenue  question  is  the 
national  one.  The  cost  to  the  national  treasury  for  the 
saloon  evil  is  comparatively  light,  and  the  revenue  derived  is 
a  very  large  sum.  The  report  of  the  Commissioners  of  In- 
ternal Revenue  issued  August,  1910,  shows  receipts  of  $208,- 
601,500.09.  This  immense  revenue  paralyzes  the  moral 
nerves  of  the  authorities  at  Washington,  and  little  help  in 
controlling  the  evil  can  be  expected  from  that  quarter  until 
the  work  in  the  various  States  is  far  advanced.  Fortunately 
the  beginnings  must  be  made  in  the  smaller  unit. 

1  Treatment  of  Public  Intoxication  and  Inebriety,  March  1,  1910, 
pp.  315-16. 


39 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  STUDY  OF  THE  PROBLEM  OF  LIQUOR. 

Our  studies  have  settled  beyond  reasonable  question  the 
proposition  that  the  habit  of  drink  and  the  saloon  are  fruitful 
causes  of  ineflSciency,  poverty,  disease,  especially  insanity, 
immorality  and  crime,  and  are  a  very  serious  drain  upon  the 
economic  resources  of  society.  The  functions  of  the  state 
require  the  exercise  of  the  right  to  interfere  with  a  man's 
personal  habits  the  instant  they  infringe  upon  the  rights  of 
others.  This  the  drinking  man  can  hardly  fail  to  do  the 
moment  he  becomes  drunk.  And,  further,  the  state  has  the 
right  and  duty  to  control  or  abolish  the  saloon  because  of  its 
cost  to  the  community  financially  and  morally,  and  because 
of  its  menace  to  the  safety  and  well-being  of  society.  But 
the  recognition  of  these  facts  does  not  solve  the  liquor  prob- 
lem. The  habit  of  drink  is  deeply  imbedded  in  the  customs 
of  the  people,  and  the  traffic  in  liquor,  because  of  its  chance 
for  wealth  and  political  power,  appeals  to  the  cupidity  and 
selfishness  of  men,  and  although  many  plans  involving  moral 
suasion  of  the  individual  and  all  kinds  of  restrictive  and 
prohibitory  laws  for  the  saloon  have  been  tried,  the  solution 
of  the  problem  has  not  been  reached.  That  progress  has  been 
made  we  fully  believe,  but  it  has  not  been  so  much  by  the 
intelligent  application  of  the  moral  principles  involved  as  by 
the  trial  and  error  method.  Men  have  seen  the  great  evils  of 
drunkenness  and  have  endeavored  to  persuade  other  men  not 
to  drink.  They  have  seen  the  evils  of  the  saloon  and  have 
tried  to  lessen  them  or  eliminate  them  by  putting  the  saloon 

40 


MORAL  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

I 

under  certain  restrictions,  by  imposing  heavy  penalties  for 
violation  of  law,  or  by  prohibiting  the  traffic  altogether.  The 
enforcement  of  restrictive  and  prohibitory  laws  has  consti- 
tuted one  of  the  greatest  difficulties  in  the  way  of  progress. 
It  may  be  true  that  much  of  the  progress  of  the  world  has 
been  by  the  trial  and  error  plan,  and  that  men  have  not  ap- 
preciated the  moral  principles  involved  until  they  saw  them 
in  operation.  And  it  may  be  true  that  when  they  have  tried 
to  break  up  existing  institutions  and  put  into  operation  fine- 
spun but  untried  theories,  there  has  been  a  lamentable  fail- 
ure. Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  in  all  the  great  departments  of 
knowledge  the  scientific  study  of  the  factors  of  a  problem 
has  greatly  aided  in  its  solution,  and  in  the  solution  of  this 
problem  its  greatest  need  at  the  present  time  is  just  such,  a' 
scientific  study  of  its  various  factors. 

The  saloon  for  the  past  century  has  been  an  increasing 
power  in  our  American  life,  and  has  had  a  most  pernicious 
and  demoralizing  influence.  Much  has  been  done  to  attempt 
to  crush  it  or  destroy  it,  but  the  whole  problem  has  received 
very  little  scientific  study.  The  best  work  that  has  been  done 
is  in  the  study  of  the  physiological  effects  of  alcohol.  Some 
of  the  results  have  been  collated  by  the  Committee  of  Fifty, 
and  the  work  is  still  being  carried  on  by  individual  scientists. 
Some  noteworthy  attempts  have  been  made  to  study  the  rela- 
tions of  alcohol  to  poverty,  insanity,  and  crime,  but  they  have 
been  spasmodic  and  have  depended  too  much  upon  statistics. 
They  have  made  their  case  in  proving  the  trend  of  the  effects 
of  alcohol,  but  have  not  done  much  more  than  that. 

The  two  most  notable  attempts  to  study  the  question  have 
been  those  made  by  the  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics 
and  Labor  and  the  Committee  of  Fifty,  and  what  may  be 
said  of  the  failure  of  these  to  do  scientific  work  will  apply 
to  all  others.  To  illustrate  our  objections  to  their  methods 
we  might  take  their  study,  the  relation  of  alcohol  to  poverty : 

A.  It  was  superficial.    The  data  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics 

41 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

of  Labor,  comprising  an  immense  number  of  statistical  tables 
covering  occupation,  sex,  age,  nationality,  etc.,  of  the  paupers 
studied,  are  based  upon  certain  questions  and  answers,  no 
other  effort  to  learn  conditions  was  made,  and  probably  could 
not  have  been  made  successfully.  The  Committee  of  Fifty 
sent  questions  out  to  many  charity  organizations  throughout 
the  country,  and  upon  the  answers  received  based  their  con- 
clusions. Now,  there  are  two  faults  to  be  found  with  this 
method  that  render  it  untrustworthy:  First,  the  well-known 
low  average  of  intelligence  among  paupers  that  renders  them 
incapable  of  intelligently  understanding  the  causes  of  their 
own  poverty.  In  most  instances,  if  the  pauper  drank  at  all, 
it  was  assumed  that  that  was  the  cause  of  his  poverty,  when 
other  causes  might  have  had  more  to  do  with  it.  As  one 
of  my  correspondents  said,  "the  drinking  might  have  been 
an  effect  rather  than  a  cause."  In  the  second  place,  it  was 
assumed  that  the  pauper  told  the  truth,  and  anyone  who  has 
had  much  experience  in  dealing  with  indigent  classes  knows 
that  they  will  misrepresent  on  that  question  more  than  on 
any  other,  and  especially  if  their  poverty  can  be  charged 
to  the  drinking  of  someone  else,  as  husband  or  father.  Not 
much  scientific  value  can  be  expected  of  investigations  based 
upon  the  question  and  answer  method,  as  we  have  seen  the 
most  experienced  and  best-trained  charity  workers  of  to-day 
place  little  reliance  upon  such  statistics. 

B.  These  investigations  are  inconclusive  because  they  are 
incomplete.  The  Committee  of  Fifty  ought  at  most  to  call 
their  study  The  Relation  of  Alcohol  to  Pauperism,  not  Pov- 
erty, for  they  only  attempt  to  study  pauperism.  That  the 
pauperism  due  to  drink  is  only  a  small  part  of  the  poverty 
due  to  drink  we  have  already  noted;  for  everyone  that  goes 
to  the  poor  house  or  becomes  an  object  of  charity,  there  are 
many  others  who  live  impoverished  lives,  having  the  scantiest 
necessities  of  life,  and  failing  through  sheer  lack  of  nutrition 
and  care  to  reach  their  natural  physical  and  mental,  and  per- 

42 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

haps  moral,  development.  It  is  generally  supposed  that  much 
of  this  is  due  to  drink,  but  we  do  not  know.  Charles  Booth, 
in  London,  is  the  only  one  that  has  made  any  attempt  to 
study  it,  and  he  doubtless  depended  much  upon  the  question 
and  answer  method.^ 

C.  Another  objection  to  the  work  done  thus  far  is  its 
spasmodic  character.  You  cannot  cut  a  cross  section  of  the 
poverty  or  crime  or  insanity  of  a  people  and  put  it  under  a 
microscope  and  then  say  a  certain  per  cent  is  due*  to  this 
or  that  cause.  It  must  be  studied  through  long  periods  of 
time  and  with  great  care  and  patience.  To  send  an  agent  to 
the  poor  house  to  question  a  pauper,  or  to  a  poor  home  to 
talk  to  the  family,  and  then  undertake  to  give  the  causes  of 
their  poverty  is  preposterous. 

The  work  done  in  studying  the  legislative  aspects  of  the 
liquor  question  has  still  less  scientific  value.  There  has  been 
a  great  deal  of  legislation  on  the  liquor  traffic,  but  it  has  been 
done  because  the  voters  demanded  this  or  that,  and  in  the 
stress  and  strain  of  legislative  conflict  much  of  the  final  result 
has  been  compromise  law.  When  the  reformers  have  had 
control  they  have  been  guided  not  so  much  by  the  moral 
principles  involved  as  by  their  hatred  of  alcohol,  and  the 
whole  liquor  business,  and  their  determination  to  utterly 
annihilate  it.  The  study  of  legislation  has,  therefore,  been 
generally  from  the  practical  standpoint  by  men  in  the  tur- 
moil of  conflict.  Some  study  has  been  given  to  the  subject 
outside  of  this,  but  there  was  little  difference  in  the  stand- 
point, and  no  effort  to  apply  the  moral  principles  involved. 
The  Committee  of  Fifty  made  such  an  attempt,  and  its  book 
on  The  Legislative  Aspects  of  the  Liquor  Problem  has  in  it 
much  useful  information,  but  its  conclusions  are  only  the 
conclusions  of  two  men,  Mr.  Wines  and  Mr.  Koren,  who  in- 
vestigated for  the  committee.    Mr.  Wines  did  his  work  in  St. 

*  Reported  in  Royal  Statistical  Society,  1888. 
43 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

Louis,  in  Iowa,  Ohio,  and  Indiana;  Mr.  Koren  worked  in 
Maine,  Massachusetts,  and  Pennsylvania,  so  that  we  have  only 
the  work  of  one  man  in  any  given  place.  Two  things  are  to 
be  said  about  their  work:  First,  it  is  done  purely  from  the 
utilitarian  standpoint,  their  only  question  is.  How  does  it 
work?  There  was  no  attempt  to  study  underlying  principles 
in  a  broad  way.  The  other  thing  to  be  said  about  their  work 
is  that  it  was  done  with  an  effort  to  be  fair,  but  with  an  un- 
doubted bias  against  all  forms  of  prohibition  and  in  favor  of 
some  form  of  license. 

The  thing  that  makes  one  pause  is  the  fact  that  except  in 
the  laboratories  where  the  physiological  aspects  of  alcohol  are 
being  studied,  and  except  as  an  occasional  student  takes  up 
some  phase  of  the  question  for  dissertation  work,  no  scientific 
work  is  being  done  toward  the  solution  of  the  problem. 

Prof.  A.  R.  Hatton,  of  Cleveland,  in  an  address  to  the 
National  Conference  on  City  Government,  1908,  says :  "  Con- 
sidering the  importance  of  the  subject,  the  amount  of  liter- 
ature of  solid  value  on  the  liquor  problem  is  exceedingly 
small.  ...  In  the  face  of  these  difficulties  and  in  part  be- 
cause of  them  (difficulties  in  the  study  of  the  problem)  the 
problem  of  the  liquor  traffic  stands  more  in  need  of  an  im- 
partial and  comprehensive  investigation  to-day  than  ever 
before.  .  .  .  Since  the  work  of  the  Committee  of  Fifty  ten 
years  ago  no  general  study  of  the  question  has  been  attempted 
in  America."  ^  No  great  university  of  this  country  is  giving 
the  subject  the  subject  any  special  attention.  An  immense 
amount  of  valuable  work  is  being  done  on  the  field  by  the 
reformers,  but  the  scientific  part  of  the  community  is  render- 
ing little  help.  If  the  excessive  use  of  liquor  and  the  traffic  in 
liquor  are  the  menace  to  society,  and  are  the  cause  of  suffering 
and  immoralit3%  that  the  facts  we  have  been  studying  seem 
to  indicate,  and  if  the  rights  and  duties  of  the  state  are  ade- 

» Nat.  Con.  City  Gov.,  1908,  pp.  422-3. 
44 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

quate  to  its  responsibility,  then  society  and  the  state  must 
take  cognizance  of  the  situation  and  remedy  it.  We  have 
introduced  the  term  society  at  this  point  because  we  believe 
that  the  solution  of  the  liquor  problem  must  involve  the 
voluntary  cooperation  of  the  better  elements  of  society  work- 
ing outside  of  the  power  and  authority  of  the  state,  as  well  as 
through  the  power  and  authority  of  the  state. 

The  question  which  has  been  the  most  perplexing  in  deal- 
ing with  the  liquor  traffic  has  been  the  question  of  law.  The 
objective  must  be  the  determination  and  enactment  of  legis- 
lation which  will  be  most  in  harmony  with  the  moral  prin- 
ciples which  lie  at  the  very  basis  of  the  authority  of  the  state, 
and  at  the  same  time  meet  the  requirements  of  existing  con- 
ditions. This  purpose  must  be  steadily  held  in  view  in  all 
legislation.  All  laws  and  all  institutions  are  tolerable  only  in 
so  far  as  they  do  this.  If  the  facts  concerning  the  evil  effects 
of  drinking  and  the  work  of  the  saloon  are  as  have  been 
stated  in  this  paper,  then  the  duty  of  the  state  is  either  to 
eliminate  the  evil  results  of  the  liquor  traffic  or  to  suppress 
the  traffic. 

A  great  many  think  that  the  former  of  these  alternatives 
is  possible,  and  is  the  only  possible  thing  for  the  state  to  do. 
They  reason  that  drinking  cannot  be  stopped,  and  so  long 
as  this  is  true,  it  is  better  to  regulate  the  saloon  and  have 
it  according  to  law  than  to  have  an  illicit  traffic.  They 
argue  further  that  the  saloon  really  fills  a  social  need  in  the 
community  and  that  to  regulate  it  and  make  it  decent  is 
better  for  the  life  of  the  people.  Many  who  have  not  given 
the  matter  enough  attention  argue  for  the  saloon,  for  the 
sake  of  lower  taxes  they  think  the  license  money  of  the  sa- 
loon makes  possible.  Before  any  of  these  views  are  accepted 
a  number  of  doubts  must  be  cleared  up.  (a)  Is  not  a  well- 
regulated  saloon  a  place  where  the  owner  is  seeking  to  do 
business  ?  And  will  not  the  principle  to  which  we  have  called 
attention,  i.  e.,  that  the  very  genius  of  any  business  is  to 

45 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

increase  its  sales,  hold  good?  If  this  is  true,  does  not  the 
fact  that  it  is  a  well-regulated  saloon  make  the  saloon  a  more 
potent  agent  in  securing  customers  among  the  men  who 
have  not,  as  yet,  contracted  the  drink  habit,  and  who  would 
not  be  found  in  a  low  place?  It  will  be  seen  that  while  the 
fact  that  the  saloon  is  more  orderly  eliminates  some  of  the 
elements  of  danger,  it  increases  others,  (h)  The  next  ques- 
tion is,  Are  there  any  well-regulated  saloons  ?  There  may  be 
a  few,  but  as  a  rule  the  saloon  is  lawless.  One  of  the  diflB- 
culties  in  the  case  is  the  fact  that  the  saloon,  no  matter  what 
the  type  of  legislation,  will  not  obey  the  law.  Much  ado 
has  been  made  about  the  violation  of  prohibitory  laws,  but 
the  violation  of  law  has  been  quite  as  bad,  if  not  worse  in 
license  states.  No  legislation  has  been  devised  that  can 
make  the  average  saloon  orderly.  There  is  a  natural  affinity 
in  the  saloon  with  crime,  (c)  Another  question  involved 
is  the  relation  of  the  saloon  to  the  state  revenues.  This 
complicates  the  whole  matter  very  seriously.  It  is  true  that 
the  argument  in  favor  of  the  saloon  from  the  revenue  stand- 
point is  not  urged  by  men  who  know  the  facts,  and  there 
is  no  question  but  that  the  state  receives  revenue  from  the 
saloon.  It  puts  the  state  in  one  of  two  attitudes,  either  it 
is  a  party  to  the  business;  allowing  a  business  that  is  con- 
fessedly evil  in  its  tendencies  to  prey  upon  the  community 
for  a  consideration;  or  the  state  is  helpless  to  abate  the  evil 
and  is  ready  to  impose  a  tax  to  help  pay  the  additional  cost 
the  saloon  makes.  In  either  case  the  position  of  the  state 
is  in  direct  antagonism  to  the  moral  principles  that  ought  to 
govern  it,  and  therefore  cannot  be  a  permanent  position.  No 
sincere  effort  is  being  made  to  regulate  or  control  the  saloon 
outside  of  the  money  consideration  involved.  We  believe  that 
the  principle  of  regulation  is  vicious  in  itself,  and  that  even 
if  the  question  of  revenue  were  eliminated  the  problem  of 
the  saloon  would  remain  unsolved.  But  there  are  many 
people  who  believe  that  if  the  revenue  question  were  not  in- 

46 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

volved,  the  saloon  could  be  regulated,  and  for  that  reason 
it  would  be  worth*  while  to  try  the  experiment. 

The  other  alternative  of  the  state  is  the  suppression  of  the 
saloon.  This  position  is  logically  correct.  If  the  saloon  is 
a  potent  cause  of  inefficiency,  disease,  insanity,  poverty,  and 
criminality,  and  if  it  is  the  right  and  duty  of  the  state  to 
protect  the  individuals  composing  it  from  infringement  of 
their  rights,  and  to  eliminate  conditions  harmful,  and  pro- 
mote conditions  favorable  to  their  development,  then  the 
only  possibly  consistent  policy  of  the  state  is  the  suppression 
of  the  saloon  as  an  institution. 

The  objection  offered  to  this  proposition  is  that  it  is  im- 
practicable, that  it  has  never  worked  and  never  will  work. 
In  answering  this  objection  certain  considerations  must  have 
weight,  (a)  The  prohibition  legislation  has  had  to  encoun- 
ter almost  insuperable  opposition.  It  flew  into  the  face  of 
the  habits  of  a  large  portion,  perhaps  the  majority  of  the 
population.  It  had  as  its  foe  a  business  organization  in- 
volving great  money  interests  and  controlled  by  men  who 
would  resort  to  any  means  and  spend  any  amount  of  money 
to  break  down  prohibition  measures.  The  promotion  of  sys- 
tematic violation  of  the  law,  and  the  wide  advertisement  of 
all  violations  found,  in  order  to  prove  that  the  law  was  a 
failure  and  thereby  secure  its  repeal,  was  a  favorite  plan 
with  them.  Moreover,  a  perfect  enforcement  of  the  laws 
was  expected  by  the  friends  of  prohibition  and  demanded  by 
its  enemies,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  few  laws  are  per- 
fectly enforced,  and  none  are,  if  money  interests  find  them 
to  be  irksome,  (b)  In  the  next  place  it  must  be  remembered 
that  no  study  of  the  moral  principles  involved  had  been 
made,  except  the  very  obvious  one  that  the  state  ought  not 
to  enter  into  a  co-partnership  ^ith  an  evil  that  preys  upon 
the  community.  That  the  progress  made  has  been  by  the 
trial  and  error  plan,  and  in  the  very  nature  of  things  a 
great  many  mistakes  would  be  made  which  would  retard  the 

47 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

cause  and  would  have  to  be  rectified.  Radical  reformers  took 
no  account  of  method,  they  sought  state-wide  prohibition  at 
once,  or  even  nation-wide  prohibition,  and  if  anyone  sug- 
gested that  that  was  not  the  way  to  reach  the  goal  he  was 
looked  upon  as  a  traitor  to  the  cause.  The  most  serious  mis- 
takes have  been  made.  First,  a  tendency  to  take  too  large  a 
unit  at  first.  To  enact  a  state-wide  prohibitory  law  where 
universal  licenses  have  prevailed,  in  the  very  nature  of 
things,  cannot  succeed,  for  there  will  be  many  places  in  the 
state  where  the  sentiment  is  strongly  against  it,  and  this  is 
a  government  of  the  majority.  It  has  been  universally  true 
that  the  larger  unit  has  not  been  able  to  force  unwelcome 
legislation  upon  the  smaller  unit,  so  in  every  state  where 
prohibition  has  been  tried  the  cities  or  counties  where  there 
was  an  adverse  majority  have  failed  to  enforce  the  law.  The 
next  mistake  which  seems  to  be  very  serious  is  the  universal 
cleavage  between  responsibility  for  the  enactment  of  the  law 
and  for  its  enforcement.  One  unit  would  enact  the  law 
through  the  legislature  or  by  popular  vote,  and  an  entirely 
different  unit  would  be  responsible  for  its  enforcement.  For 
instance,  the  state  would  enact  the  law  through  its  legisla- 
ture and  the  city  would  elect  the  mayor  and  council  that 
selected  the  police  commissioners.  Or  the  county  by  vote 
would  go  dry,  and  the  same  condition  would  exist  in  the 
city.  Newark,  0.,  where  the  recent  riot  and  mob  law  execu- 
tions took  place  is  a  case  in  point.^  It  would  seem  to  be 
absolutely  necessary  that  the  same  constituency  that  votes 
the  unit  "  dry ''  should  also  elect  the  officers  that  enforce 
the  law. 

Although  the  problem  fairly  bristles  with  difficulties  we 
believe  it  can  be  solved,  but  only  upon  the  cooperation  of 
three  great  agencies. 

First.     The  general  body  of  men  and  women  who  seek  the 

1  Cosmopolitan,  vol.  xlix,  p.  762. 
48 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

betterment  of  society  must  work  out,  by  such  plans  of  cooper- 
ation as  may  develop,  some  unified  course  of  action.  The 
points  of  disagreement  must  be  lost  sight  of,  and  the  points 
of  agreement  for  the  betterment  of  conditions  must  have  the 
united  support  of  all  who  seek  to  solve  the  liquor  problem. 
One  of  the  gravest  difficulties  that  all  reform  movements 
have  had  to  contend  against  has  been  the  difference  among 
their  friends.  The  radical  wing  would  draw  drastic  plans 
and  require  everybody  to  adopt  them  upon  pain  of  being 
excommunicated  from  orthodoxy.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
conservative  faction  would  be  afraid  of  reactions  and  would 
adopt  as  their  motto  "  Make  haste  slowly."  The  result 
would  be  that  nothing  would  be  accomplished.  The  tem- 
perance reform  has  not  been  an  exception  to  this  rule.  On 
the  one  hand  were  those  who  demanded  state-wide  prohibi- 
tion or  nothing;  at  the  other  extreme  were  those  who  plead 
for  "  Gospel  temperance ''  and  were  mortally  afraid  of  get- 
ting into  politics.  All  intermediary  steps  in  a  reform  move- 
ment must,  in  the  very  nature  of  things,  be  compromises. 
Not  with  principle,  nor  with  the  evil  perhaps,  but  in  method. 
Three  propositions  are  herewith  laid  down  which  are  neces- 
sary for  the  advancement  of  the  temperance  reform  and  form 
the  basis  upon  which  all  friends  of  the  movement  can 
cooperate. 

(a)  The  first  and  most  important  work  to  be  done  is  the 
creation  of  public  opinion.  In  a  democracy  nothing  good 
can  abide  that  is  not  grounded  upon  the  intelligent  convic- 
tions of  the  people.  It  must  be  "line  upon  line  and  pre- 
cept upon  precept."  Agitation  is  in  itself  a  good  thing,  if 
ideas  and  principles  are  being  agitated,  but  merely  stirring 
things  up  is  of  little  value.  Appeals  to  the  emotions  are 
helpful  if  the  work  of  education  has  been  done,  and  the 
appeal  is  to  secure  action  in  line  with  conviction,  but  other- 
wise it  may  do  more  harm  than  good.  Back  of  agitation 
and  emotional  appeals,  there  must  be  such  education,  such 

49 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

presentation  of  the  facts  and  principles  involved  as  shall 
produce  convictions  grounded  upon  knowledge.  This  holds 
good  equally  in  the  training  of  the  young  in  their  personal 
habits,  and  in  the  training  of  the  citizen  in  political  opinion. 

(&)  The  second  proposition  is,  the  law  must  not  be  in 
advance  of  the  average  convictions  of  the  people.  This  is  a 
government  of  the  majority  and  a  law  to  be  effective  must 
not  only  command  the  assent  of  the  majority  at  the  time 
of  its  enactment,  but  must  continue  to  do  so.  A  second 
best  law  supported  by  the  convictions  of  the  people  is  better 
than  the  best  law  if  it  is  in  advance  of  them.  It  is  not  a 
case  where  the  army  must  be  brought  up  to  the  colors.  The 
course  of  human  development  is  not  the  framing  and  en- 
actment of  ideal  laws  and  then  the  development  of  the  people 
toward  them,  but  it  is  the  development  of  the  people  by 
service  and  culture,  and  then  the  crystallization  of  the  con- 
victions of  the  majority  into  law  and  institution.  There 
have  been  instances  where  in  a  tremendous  emotional  ex- 
citement a  state  has  been  carried  for  prohibition  when  that 
did  not  represent  the  average  conviction  of  the  people,  and 
the  net  result  has  not  been  the  best. 

(c)  The  other  proposition  suggested  by  common  sense  is: 
every  advance  made  must  be  safeguarded  and  defended.  One 
of  the  most  mischievous  weaknesses  of  the  temperance  forces 
has  been  a  tendency  to  take  for  granted  that  if  an  advance 
was  made  the  ground  gained  never  could  be  lost  again.  The 
real  movement  is  that  among  the  people,  the  laws  are  only 
the  mile  posts  along  the  way,  and  it  is  entirely  possible  for 
the  movement  to  be  backward  instead  of  forward.  Two 
things  must  be  done  to  hold  the  ground  already  gained.  They 
are,  first,  to  continue  the  work  of  education.  Second,  to 
entrust  the  administration  of  laws  only  into  the  hands  of 
men  who  are  in  sjTnpathy  with  them,  or  at  least  are  not 
opposed  to  them. 

Second.  The  great  graduate  schools  of  the  country  must 

50 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

take  up  the  serious  study  of  the  problem,  not  for  a  day,  or 
a  year,  but  until  it  is  solved.  The  physiological,  sociological, 
economic  and  legislative  aspects  of  the  case  are  phases  of  the 
subject  that  must  have  the  most  careful  scientific  study. 
Attention  has  been  called  to  two  facts,  i.  e.,  that  for  ten 
years  practically  nothing  has  been  done  in  this  country  in 
scientific  investigation  of  the  problem  from  the  social  stand- 
point, and  also  that  what  was  done  before  that  time  was 
of  a  very  inadequate  character.  This  has  been  true  for  the 
most  part  because  no  competent,  responsible  body  undertook 
the  task.  The  Committee  of  Fifty  was  a  body  of  eminent  \/ 
gentlemen,  anxious  for  the  good  of  the  community,  but  few 
of  them  gave  any  time  or  effort  to  the  work.  Their  names 
simply  were  used  to  give  character  to  the  work  of  a  few 
men  who  for  that  matter  did  not  need  it.  In  many  respects 
the  work  of  the  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics 
is  the  best  work  that  has  been  done,  but  it  was  based  upon 
the  statistical  method,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  is  not  the 
most  satisfactory.  The  graduate  schools  of  the  country, 
backed  by  the  resources  of  the  great  universities,  must  take 
up  this  task.  This  would  provide  scientific  training  for  a 
multitude  of  workers,  and  would  be  the  means  for  the  scien- 
tific study  of  the  whole  subject.  Without  attempting  to 
exhaust  the  subject  some  suggestions  might  be  made  for  such 
work. 

(a)  Some  valuable  work  has  been  done  upon  the  psychologi- 
cal and  psychopathological  aspects  of  the  subject,  but  there  is 
nothing  conclusive  except  the  very  general  conclusion  that  the 
excessive  use  of  liquor  is  harmful.  The  experiments  made 
have  not  been  sufficient  in  number  nor  adequate  in  character 
to  determine  at  what  point  the  use  of  liquor  becomes  exces- 
sive. It  is  claimed  by  some  investigators  that  this  point  is 
before  any  visible  or  conscious  evidence  of  intoxication  is  per- 
ceived. That  is,  the  various  tests  of  efficiency  reveal  the  pres- 
ence of  alcohol  in  a  lowered  tone  before  any  one  would  say 

61 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

the  man  is  intoxicated.^  Now,  this  ought  to  be  within  the 
possibility  of  verification,  or  refutal. 

(6)  The  relation  of  liquor  to  poverty  is  a  phase  of  the 
subject  upon  which  there  is  little  scientific  data.  Much  has 
been  done  but  it  has  been  done  in  connection  with  some  other 
branch  of  work,  as,  for  instance,  the  various  relief  organ- 
izations. Or  it  has  been  the  work  of  a  temporary  organiza- 
tion of  some  kind  and  was  based  upon  the  methods  which 
we  have  criticised.  It  is  doubtless  true  that  the  relation  of 
liquor  to  poverty  cannot  be  expressed  by  statistics.  Still 
much  more  definite  data  is  needed  and  could  be  obtained. 

(c)  The  social  aspects  of  the  liquor  problem  could  be 
taken  up  under  university  direction  and  better  results  ob- 
tained. At  the  present  time  there  is  much  talk  about  the 
saloon  being  the  poor  man's  club,  and  about  the  social  need 
the  saloon  is  filling.  The  investigations  made  of  this  phase 
of  the  subject  have  been  very  limited  and  necessarily  very 
superficial.  The  most  extensive  work  done  was  under  the 
direction  of  the  Committee  of  Fifty,^  and  that  was  very  un- 
satisfactory, but  even  that  was  over  ten  years  ago.  There  are 
many  phases  of  this  question  that  must  be  taken  into  ac- 
count. For  instance — what  are  the  home  conditions  in  these 
various  poorer  sections  in  their  relation  to  the  man's  life. 
Often  a  man  is  driven  to  some  other  place  by  disagreeable 
home  conditions,  and  many  times  the  best  temperance  work 
can  be  done  by  making  possible  a  better  home  life,  cleaner, 
more  comfortable,  and  more  healthful  home  life.  Again, 
the  social  needs  of  a  community  is  a  very  vital  question. 
Play  ground  or  play  place  in  the  sense  of  common  social 
centers  is  as  truly  a  need  of  the  adult  as  of  the  child.  And 
public  play  grounds  for  children  is  one  of  the  demands  of 
the  times.    Why  not  for  men  and  women  as  well?    It  must 

^  See  Dr.  WiUiams'  articles  in  McClure's  Magazine,  October,  Novem- 
ber and  December,  1908.  *  Substitutes  for  the  Saloon. 

52 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

not  be  a  mission  center,  or  some  benevolence.  It  must  be 
something  which  the  people  believe  belongs  to  them. 

(d)  The  relation  of  the  saloon  to  the  political  life  of  the 
community  is  something  we  know  about  in  a  general  way, 
but  upon  which  we  have  very  little  reliable  data.  This  fact 
involves  issues  of  fundamental  importance  because  of  its 
menace  to  the  body  politic.  The  real  situation  can  be  dis- 
covered only  by  such  an  investigation  as  that  suggested.  Not 
only  so,  but  the  best  method  of  dealing  with  this  part  of 
our  problem,  must  depend  upon  such  investigation.  While 
in  these  various  lines  of  work  there  must  be  many  inde- 
pendent investigators  who  will  render  valuable  service,  yet 
much  of  the  most  difficult  work  must  be  undertaken  by  the 
university  trained  man.  The  results  must  be  used  by  the 
universities  in  working  out  the  principles  involved  and  in 
putting  the  data  obtained  into  usable  condition.  If  it  is  ob- 
jected that  such  a  task  would  be  costly  and  demand  much 
time  and  effort,  the  manifest  reply  is,  if  it  is  worth  while 
for  a  rich  man  to  pay  all  the  expenses  of  an  anthropological 
expedition,  and  a  great  university  to  equip  it  with  trained 
men  led  by  one  of  the  greatest  authorities  of  the  day  upon 
the  subject — and  we  believe  it  to  be  very  much  worth  while — 
then  surely  it  is  a  worthy  undertaking  for  rich  men  to  pay 
for  expeditions  that  have  for  their  purpose  the  study  of 
problems  that  bear  upon  the  moral  well-being  of  the  present 
day. 

Third.  The  National  and  the  various  state  governments 
must  take  up  the  study  of  the  problem.  The  National  Gov- 
ernment has  a  Department  of  Agriculture  for  the  study  of 
conditions  among  the  farmers,  and  to  suggest  improved 
methods,  etc.  It  is  proposed  to  establish  a  permanent  board 
for  the  study  of  tariff  questions,  and  the  value  of  the  work 
of  such  a  board  of  experts  is  very  evident.  The  various  states 
have  their  railroad  commissioners  or  transit  commissioners 
to  take  up  the  intricate  phases  of  the  transit  question  that 

53- 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

need  expert  knowledge.  There  are  also  the  various  state  and 
city  boards  of  health  to  secure  the  most  competent  service 
in  the  battle  with  disease.  Why  should  not  the  same  course 
be  followed  in  the  study  of  the  liquor  evil.  The  National 
and  various  state  governments  have  power  and  facilities  to 
carry  on  the  work  of  investigation  beyond  the  ability  of  any 
private  organization.  The  National  Government  now  has  its 
Internal  Eevenue  Bureau  and  every  state  where  any  form 
of  license  prevails  has  either  an  excise  department,  as  in  the 
case  of  New  York,  or  a  board  of  commissioners  on  excise 
matters.  In  states  where  license  is  not  recognized  and  yet 
some  form  of  tax  is  imposed,  as  in  Ohio,  the  collection  is 
made  by  the  County  Treasurer.  These  boards  are  now  noth- 
ing more  than  collection  agencies  in  many  instances.  They 
take  cognizance  only  of  such  infractions  of  the  law  as  are 
related  to  the  license  question  and  in  many  cases  they  are 
in  partnership  with  the  saloons.  There  are  some  exceptions 
to  this  general  statement.  In  New  York,  for  instance,  the 
Commissioner  is  supposed  to  be  the  plaintiff  against  the 
saloon  in  all  civil  suits,  the  police  taking  sole  charge  of 
the  criminal  prosecutions.  With  the  facilities  at  their  dis- 
posal these  bureaus  have  the  best  opportunities  to  study  the 
working  of  the  laws  and  are  most  competent  to  suggest  im- 
provements. A  step  in  this  direction  was  taken  by  Excise 
Commissioner  Clement  of  New  York  in  1910,  when  at  his 
request  several  bills,  known  as  the  Conklin  bills,  were  intro- 
duced and  were  passed.  Among  other  things  these  laws 
provided  for  earlier  closing  hours,  for  increase  of  the  dis- 
tance permitted  between  a  saloon  and  a  church  or  school 
from  200  feet  to  300  feet,  and  provided  also  that  no  new 
saloons  could  be  started  in  any  community  until  the  ratio  of 
saloon  to  population  reached  1  to  750.  It  would  seem  to  be 
peculiarly  the  business  of  such  a  bureau  to  study  the  problem 
of  the  enforcement  of  law.  The  failure  to  enforce  the  law 
is  the  most  lamentable  thing  in  the  whole  matter  of  liquor 

54 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

legislation.  The  state  itself  ought  to  enforce  the  law,  out- 
side parties  or  private  individuals  are  incompetent  to  do  it 
properly. 

Another  question  that  belongs  particularly  to  the  work  of 
the  state  is  the  determination  of  the  relation  of  the  saloon 
to  vice,  crime,  and  disorder.  This  is  a  matter  vital  to  the 
very  functions  of  the  state,  and  the  state  can  most  effectually 
carry  on  the  investigation.  It  must  be  evident  that  it  will 
be  necessary  for  these  Excise  Departments  to  be  very  much 
widened  in  their  scope.  That  the  highest  scientific  experts 
must  be  secured,  and  that  the  department  must  be  absolutely 
independent  of  party  politics,  and  beyond  the  power  of  the 
liquor  traffic.  In  making  these  suggestions  the  fact  is  not 
overlooked  that  no  such  hard  and  fast  division  of  work  is 
possible,  and  that  there  would  be  much  over-lapping.  Still 
it  is  believed  that  development  must  be  substantially  along 
the  lines  marked  out. 


55 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE  POWER  OF  THE  STATE  TO  CONTROL  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

In  this  discussion  it  has  been  assumed  that  the  state  has 
the  power  to  control  the  liquor  traffic,  but  we  must  not  let 
the  subject  rest  without  presenting  the  basis  of  that  power. 
This  power  of  the  state  is  questioned  by  a  large  number  of 
people.  The  saloon  interests  have  organized  what  are  called 
Personal  Liberty  Leagues.  Their  claim  is  that  the  state 
transcends  its  authority  when  it  attempts  to  control  the  per- 
sonal habits  of  the  individual,  either  in  drinking  or  other- 
wise, and  that  the  power  to  prohibit  the  sale,  so  that  liquor 
cannot  be  obtained,  is  equivalent  to  forbidding  the  drinking 
itself.  It  is  evident  that  the  latter  part  of  this  statement  is 
true,  and  the  control  of  the  traffic  is  equivalent  to  the  control 
of  the  habit,  but  it  must  be  noted  that  the  state  does  not 
approach  the  matter  from  the  standpoint  of  the  individual. 
It  is  because  of  the  social  status  of  the  question  that  the  state 
has  the  power  to  exercise  authority.  This  power  of  the  state 
has  been  contested  in  every  court  of  the  nation,  and  has  been 
maintained.  In  Mugler  vs.  Kansas  (IT.  S.  Rep.  pages  662- 
663)  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  says:  "Such 
rights  (the  rights  to  manufacture  for  one's  own  use  or  for 
sale)  does  not  inhere  in  citizenship.  Nor  can  it  be  said  that 
government  interferes  with  or  impairs  any  one's  constitu- 
tional rights  of  liberty  or  of  property,  when  it  determines 
that  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks,  for 
general  or  individual  use,  as  a  beverage,  are  or  may  become 
hurtful  to  society,  and  constitute,  therefore,  a  business  in 

56 


MORAL  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

which  no  one  may  lawfully  engage."  This  is  met  by  the 
statement  that  whether  it  is  legal  or  not,  it  is  tyranny.  This 
brings  ns  to  an  examination  of  the  authority  of  our  laws,  and 
we  find  it  to  lie  in  the  consent  of  the  governed.  The  govern- 
ment of  this  country  is  based  upon  the  rule  of  the  majority. 
This  is  the  only  possible  rule  consistent  with  the  largest  lib- 
erty in  a  social  situation,  in  a  country  where  representative 
government  is  a  necessity.  In  a  city  or  town  democracy, 
everybody  may  have  a  direct  voice,  but  even  here  the  rule 
of  the  majority  must  prevail.  The  only  alternatives  are  the 
rule  of  the  minority  in  some  form  or  anarchy. 

This  country  was  settled  in  the  main  by  lovers  of  liberty, 
who  fled  from  the  tyranny  of  the  old  world.  During  the 
Colonial  period,  and  under  the  authority  of  the  mother  coun- 
tries there  was  considerable  latitude.  When  the  attempt  to 
coerce  became  strong  rebellion  followed,  and  at  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  Revolutionary  War  a  constitution  was  adopted. 
Each  of  the  original  states  adopting  it  by  the  vote  of  the 
majority  of  delegates  selected  by  the  people  and  assembled 
in  convention  for  that  purpose.  Every  state  government  in 
the  Union  has  been  inaugurated  in  the  same  way,  so  that 
the  government  and  laws  of  this  country  represent  the  wishes 
of  the  majority.  From  time  to  time  we  have  had  great  in- 
fluxes of  foreign  peoples  who  have  come  to  make  this  land 
their  home,  and  strangely  enough,  often  the  cry  of  tyranny 
and  the  plea  for  personal  liberty  come  from  some  of  them. 
They  had  very  much  less  liberty  in  the  land  whence  they 
came.  They  came  to  this  country  voluntarily,  thus  giving 
their  approval  to  the  laws  and  the  government,  and  still  more 
when  they  became  citizens  of  their  own  free  will  and  choice, 
they  formally  adopted  the  government  and  its  laws.  So  that 
the  entire  body  of  citizens,  native  and  naturalized,  have 
passed  upon  the  form  of  government  and  constitution.  More 
than  this,  every  change  in  statutory  law  is  made  by  repre- 
sentatives of  the  people  whether  in  state    legislature  or  in 

57 


MORAL  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

the  National  Congress.  Every  change  in  the  constitution 
whether  of  state  or  nation  must  travel  the  same  original 
route.  So  that  in  a  very  complete  way  the  Government  rep- 
resents the  convictions  of  the  majority. 

This  does  not  preclude  the  right  of  any  citizen  or  body  of 
citizens  to  seek  to  change  the  laws,  constitution  or  even  the 
form  of  government  itself,  but  it  does  mean  that  so  long 
as  they  are  in  the  minority  they  must  abide  by  the  law  and 
cannot  fairly  charge  it  with  tyranny.  It  means  also  that 
any  effort  to  change  must  be  itself  in  harmony  with  prin- 
ciples laid  down  by  the  majority  in  the  constitution  and 
laws  themselves. 

There  are  many  who  are  not  satisfied  with  this  as  an  ulti- 
mate position  and  insist  upon  going  back  of  it,  and  inquir- 
ing into  the  right  of  any  government,  whether  representing 
the  majority  or  not,  to  coerce  the  individual  even  in  his  social 
relations.  This  involves  in  a  fundamental  way  the  right  of 
the  state  to  control  the  liquor  traffic.  And  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  this  question  has  not  been  answered  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  moral  principles  involved,  it  will  be  well  to  give 
this  subject  careful  consideration  at  this  time. 


58 


CHAPTEE   VI. 

THE    BASIS    OF    THE    RIGHTS    AND    RESPONSIBILITIES    OF    THE 

STATE. 

There  are  certain  facts  which  must  be  accepted  in  this 
discussion  without  attempting  to  describe  their  origin.  The 
first  of  these  is  the  fact  of  society  itself.  The  state  exists. 
The  second  is  the  fact  that  the  state  exercises  authority  over 
its  citizens  or  subjects.  With  the  origin  or  development  of 
society  and  with  the  evolution  of  the  authority  of  the  state 
we  are  not  immediately  concerned.  The  questions  with  which 
we  are  concerned  in  this  inquiry  is  the  question  of  the  neces- 
sity or  naturalness  of  the  state  and  the  validity  and  scope 
of  its  authority. 

(1)  The  state  is  the  natural  and  necessary  expression  of 
man  as  a  social  being. 

The  doctrine  that  the  state  is  artificial  rather  than  nat- 
ural, that  it  is  a  "  social  contract "  was  the  view  held  by 
Eousseau,  Hobbes,  and  some  later  political  writers.  Accord- 
ing to  Rousseau,  the  state  has  no  natural,  inherent  authority 
but  must  go  back  always  to  a  first  convention.  He  says, 
"  Since  no  man  has  any  natural  authority  over  his  fellow- 
men,  and  force  is  not  the  source  of  right,  conventions  remain 
as  the  basis  of  all  lawful  authority  among  men  "  and  "  the 
act  (or  convention)  by  which  a  nation  becomes  ...  is  the 
real  foundation  of  society."  ^  Hobbes  is  just  as  emphatic  in 
his  assertions  of  the  natural  rights   of   the  individual   as 

1  Social  Contract,  vol.  i.,  pp.  4,  5. 
59 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

Eousseau/  but  differs  from  him  in  affirming  that  in  the 
natural  condition  men  were  natural  enemies,  and  while  both 
insist  upon  an  original  convention  from  which  the  state  de- 
rived its  authority,  Hobbes  believes  it  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  men  became  tired  of  constant  war  and  became  willing 
to  surrender  some  of  their  rights  in  order  to  secure  a  meas- 
ure of  peace  and  be  protected  in  the  remainder  of  their 
rights.  Rousseau  and  Hobbes  differ  also  in  the  effect  of  this 
original  convention.  The  latter  taught  that  when  the  de- 
cision was  reached  and  the  control  of  society  had  been  passed 
over  to  a  ruler,  it  never  could  be  recovered.^  The  logical 
outcome  of  the  doctrine  of  Rousseau  was  that  the  right  of  the 
state  to  rule  continued  only  as  long  as  it  met  the  terms  of 
the  convention,  and  when  it  did  not,  then  society  reverted 
to  a  state  of  nature,  and  no  man  was  bound  by  the  laws  of 
the  state.  This  doctrine  reached  its  boldest  expression  in 
Marat  who  "proclaimed  to  the  starving  Parisians  in  1793 
that  society  is  based  upon  a  contract  terminable  at  will,  that 
the  rich  having  violated  it,  the  state  of  nature  was  restored, 
and  that  all  were  now  free  to  take  what  they  could."  ^  This 
joint  doctrine  of  the  state  of  nature  and  the  artificiality  of 
the  state  seems  to  have  had  a  considerable  following  in  the 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries.  Locke  speaks  in  this 
strain  in  his  essay  on  civil  government.  Part  II,  Chapters  1 
and  2,  and  Bentham  says,  "  The  community  is  a  fictitious 
body,  composed  of  individual  persons  who  are  considered  as 
constituting  as  it  were  its  members."  *  The  two  serious  fal- 
lacies in  their  view  are:  (a)  It  regards  man  as  capable  of 
being  separated  from  his  social  relations  or  of  having  existed 
outside  of  these  social  relations.     Man  is  a  social  being,  the 

^  See  Leviathan,  Part  I.,  chaps,  xiv.  and  xv. 
«  Green's  Works,  vol.  li.,  p.  366. 
'  H.  J.  Tozer,  Introduction  to  Social  Contract,  p.  93. 
*  Introduction  to  Principles  of  Morality,  chap,  i.,  sec.  10;  see  also 
Montesquieu,  bk.  1,  chap.  ii. 

60 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

facts  of  his  life  and  the  demands  of  his  nature  require  so- 
ciety; it  is  the  social  side  of  his  nature  that  helps  to  make 
him  an  individual.  It  is  probably  true  that  Rousseau  and 
Hobbes  were  rationalizing  and  did  not  believe  that  man  ever 
lived  in  such  a  natural  state.^  But  it  is  just  as  impossible 
logically,  as  it  is  historically,  to  segregate  man  from  his  so- 
cial relations  and  still  retain  his  individuality  as  a  human 
being.  (&)  The  other  fallacy  is  the  failure  to  recognize  the 
fact  that  the  state  is  as  real  a  necessity  to  man  as  is  his 
physical  environment.  If  man  is  a  social  being  and  cannot 
live  in  isolation,  and  association  with  others  is  fundamentally 
necessary,  then  this  is  the  natural  state,  and  the  so-called 
natural  state  is  unnatural  and  impossible.  Now  if  it  is  a 
natural  thing  for  men  to  associate  together,  it  is  certainly 
inevitable  that  these  associations  should  take  regular  lines, 
and  the  relations  of  life  be  established,  as  in  the  family  or 
the  state  where  they  are  based  upon  the  necessity  of  physical 
laws,  or  as  in  the  more  voluntary  relations  of  the  more  com- 
plex society. 

Aristotle,  towards  whom  modern  thinkers  are  turning  more 
and  more,  bases  his  whole  political  philosophy  upon  the  two 
propositions,  (1)  Man  is  a  political  animal,  and  (2)  the 
state  is  a  creation  of  nature.^  Aristotle  here  expresses  more 
clearly  than  could  Plato  himself,  the  primary  principle  un- 
derlying Plato's  entire  discussion  in  The  Laws  and  in  The 
Republic.  The  importance  of  this  view  is  increased  by  the 
fact  that  man's  capacity  for  development  and  civilization 
require  society  as  the  means,  as  Lieber  says,  "  Men,  led  to  keep 
together  in  families,  and  induced  by  every  farther  progress 
of  their  species  to  live  in  society,  discover  its  importance  the 
more  civilized  they  become  .  .  .  civilization  is  man's  truly 
natural  state."  ^ 

1  Social  Contract,  vol.  i.,  chaps,  i.  and  ii. 

2  Politics,  vol.  i.,  p.  8. 

»  Lieber's  Political  Ethics,  pp.  130,  131. 
61 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

The  whole  structure  of  human  society  is  dependent  upon 
this  view.  If  society  was  not  grounded  in  the  very  laws  of 
our  nature,  and  therefore  necessary,  no  civilization  and  no 
development  would  be  possible.  It  is  in  the  permanence  of 
society  itself,  however  forms  of  government  may  change, 
that  the  growth  of  knowledge,  the  development  of  the  in- 
dividual and  the  increasingly  complementary  character  of 
human  service  are  made  possible. 

(2)  The  Sphere  and  the  Purpose  of  the  State. 

In  early  society,  when  the  state  was  in  the  first  period  of 
evolution,  it  was  very  loose  confederation  and  there  seems 
to  have  been  very  little  conception  of  its  purpose  and  func- 
tion, except  the  mere  matters  of  the  temporary  convenience 
of  the  parties  concerned,  and  it  was  looked  upon  as  having 
no  binding  authority  beyond  the  immediate  purpose  at  hand, 
but  when  this  loose  federation  was  welded  together  into  a 
state  by  the  genius  of  a  man  or  body  of  men,  it  came  to 
have  a  definite  purpose  and  value. 

(A)  The  State  the  Booty  of  the  Strong. 

So  far  as  history  can  trace  the  currents  of  life  in  the  na- 
tions of  the  earth,  there  never  has  been  a  nation  in  which 
this  doctrine  did  not  hold  sway  at  some  time.  In  a  word, 
it  is  the  doctrine  that  the  state,  its  power,  its  wealth,  is  the 
just  prey  of  any  man  or  set  of  men  who  have  the  power  or 
wit  to  secure  it,  and  when  secured  can  be  used  for  any  selfish 
purpose  consistent  with  safety  to  the  victor.  Many  people 
have  been  so  thoroughly  the  property  of  their  rulers  that  the 
individual  had  no  rights  as  against  the  sovereign's  wishes. 
The  sovereign  might  order  a  subject's  wife  to  his  harem  if 
he  fancied  her,  and  if  the  man  objected,  might  order  him 
to  be  executed.  This  has  been  true,  not  only  of  some  African 
chieftains  but  of  many  of  the  great  Asiatic  kings.     Some- 

62 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

times  the  intelligence  and  strength  of  the  people  would  not 
suffer  such  tyranny,  and  the  king  would  be  driven  out,  as 
happened  in  old  Rome,  but  in  due  time  Rome  came  to  a 
worse  condition  in  the  period  of  the  emperors.  Even  Athens 
had  her  periods  when  men  regarded  the  state  as  almost  their 
private  domain.  In  modern  times  there  is  scarcely  a  nation, 
whether  the  government  is  monarchical  or  democratic,  where 
this  doctrine  does  not  more  or  less  prevail.  Take,  for  in- 
stance, the  United  States :  here  the  doctrine,  "  To  the  victor 
belongs  the  spoils/'  is  widespread,  and  not  only  do  grafting 
politicians  practice  it,  but  many  of  the  people  accept  it  as  a 
matter  of  course.  Such  a  doctrine  is  utterly  vicious,  whether 
in  Persia,  Africa,  Athens,  or  America. 

(B)  The  Greek  View. 

The  Greek  view  of  the  state  swung  away  from  the  old 
absolutism,  of  which  Persia  was  a  type.  Even  when  there 
were  kings  in  Sparta  there  were  restrictions  which  increased 
in  number  until  finally  the  title  of  royalty  disappeared.  Yet 
the  Greek  States  were  not  free  states  in  the  sense  that  every 
person  there  was  represented  in  the  government,  for  in 
Athens  and  Sparta  the  citizens  were  always  a  small  minority 
of  the  population.  And  for  those  who  were  regarded  as  citi- 
zens, the  state  had  an  authority  and  power  which  we  would 
be  far  from  tolerating  in  our  times.  The  rigid  discipline 
and  control  over  men's  actions  in  Sparta,  and  the  measure 
of  life  by  its  service  to  the  direct  objects  of  the  state,  would 
not  be  accepted  now.  There  was  a  great  difference  between 
Sparta  and  Athens,  the  former  suppressed  individuality,  and 
the  latter,  in  its  large  democracy,  developed  it.^  Moreover, 
there  was  among  them  a  personification  of  the  state  that  was 
very  real,  suggesting  somewhat  Mulford's  description  of  a 
state  as  a  moral  person,  "  The  nation  exists  as  an  organic 

1  Morris',  Hegel's  Phil,  of  History,  pp.  200-1. 
63 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

and  moral  being."  ^  This  almost  sounds  like  Plato,  who  in 
the  Eepublic,  conceives  the  state  as  a  great  personality  and  in 
his  inquiry  concerning  the  nature  of  justice,  proposes  to 
study  the  state  first  as  ideally  conceived  to  exemplify  justice 
as  it  ought  to  be  found  in  the  individual.  It  is  doubtful 
whether  Plato  himself  regarded  his  conception  of  the  state 
as  at  all  practicable,  for  he  attempted  a  compromise  in  the 
laws,  in  which  he  was  not  altogether  successful.  It  is  also 
true  that  Athens  did  not  go  all  the  way  with  Plato  in  his 
dreams.  Aristotle  had  the  conception  that  "  The  state  exists 
for  the  sake  of  a  good  life."  ^  But  the  conception  of  the 
state  among  the  Greeks  tended  toward  the  deification  of  the 
personality  of  the  state. 

(C)  The  Modern  Conception  of  the  State. 

Through  a  period  of  fifteen  hundred  years  there  was  little 
change  in  the  conception  of  the  state  from  the  two  concep- 
tions cited.  With  the  dawn  of  the  modern  era,  and  the 
struggle  for  the  rights  of  the  individual,  a  new  conception 
of  the  place  of  the  individual  in  the  state  arose  that  com- 
pelled new  conceptions  of  the  state.  The  most  influential 
note  struck  was  that  of  Rousseau  in  his  Social  Contract,  to 
which  reference  has  been  made.  In  this,  all  personality  and 
inherent  integrity  are  lost  and  the  state  is  only  a  contract 
that  can  be  declared  null  and  void,  upon  the  failure  of  either 
party  to  meet  its  conditions.  Hobbes'  position  is  different 
in  that  he  argues  for  monarchy,  and  insists  that  the  king  has 
been  no  party  to  any  covenant  made,  and  therefore  can  for- 
feit nothing.^  Between  these  extremes  there  were  many 
variations,  but  the  different  note  from  that  of  ancient  times 
is  in  the  fact  that  whatever  view  is  taken  of  the  form  of 
government,  or  the  terminability  of  the  covenant  between  the 

1  The  Nation,  p.  65.  2  Politics,  vol.  iii.,  p.  9. 

•  Leviathan,  Part  11. ,  chap,  xviii. 

64 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

ruler  and  people,  the  common  good  must  be  the  supreme  aim, 
as  Locke  says,  "  And  all  this  (the  measures  of  government) 
to  be  directed  to  no  other  end,  but  the  peace,  safety,  and 
public  good  of  the  people."  ^  In  some  respects  the  modern 
view  has  greatly  cleared  up.  Lieber,  for  instance,  says,  "  A 
state  is  a  society.  What  is  a  society?  A  society  is  a  num- 
ber of  individuals,  between  all  of  whom  exists  the  same 
relation — the  same  as  to  its  principles,  however  modified  it 
may  be  in  some  respects,  who  have  the  same  interests,  and 
strive  unitedly  to  secure  it";  then  after  considering  the 
various  relations  that  human  societies  are  founded  upon,  he 
comes  to  the  consideration  of  the  relation  of  right  as  be- 
tween man  and  man,  and  says,  "  The  Society  founded  upon 
this  relation  is  the  state."  ^  Thomas  Hill  Green's  position 
in  general,  is  that  "  The  state  is  an  institution  for  the  promo- 
tion of  a  common  good."  ^  The  position  of  Herbert  Spencer 
is,  as  might  be  supposed,  that  the  state  is  in  process  of  evolu- 
tion, and  that  that  fact  must  be  taken  into  consideration  in 
undertaking  to  get  a  just  idea  of  the  state.* 

If  we  may  summarize  the  views  of  various  modern  writers 
of  the  nature  and  functions  of  the  state,  giving  what  seems 
to  be  the  logical,  reasonable  phases  in  a  consistent  way,  we 
would  say:  The  state  (1)  is  a  necessary  organization,  having/ 
/  individuality  and  moral  responsibility.     The  particular  or- 
yganization  may  not  be  necessary,  but  some  organization  is 
necessary  and  one  that  will  meet  the  responsibility  of  the 
state.     It  differs  from  voluntary  organization  in  that  men 
'must  perforce  belong  to  it.     (2)  The  state  has  for  its  object  \ 
'■•  the  good  of  the  individuals  composing  it.     That  good  must 
be  promoted  by  safeguarding  the  rights  of  the  individuals 
and  by  securing  such  conditions  of  life  as  shall  be  most  fa- 
vorable to  the  realization  of  the  highest  good  of  these  in- 

^  Treatise  on  Government,  sec.  29.  '  Works,  vol.  ii,  p.  437. 

2  Political  Ethics,  sec.  29.  *  Ethics,  p.  187. 

65 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

dividuals.  If  this  proposition  is  true,  it  follows  that  the 
state  has  certain  responsibilities  and  certain  rights.  The 
responsibility  of  the  state  has  had  its  clearest  enunciation  in 
modern  times.  Wherever  the  view  has  obtained  that  the  peo- 
ple are  the  property  of  the  state,  and  that  they  and  their 
property  are  subject  to  the  pleasure  of  the  state,  the  state 
has  been  irresponsible.  This  was  clearly  true  of  the  old,  ab- 
solute monarchies.  An  old  Persian  king  never  dreamed  that 
his  subjects  had  any  rights  he  was  bound  to  respect,  and 
thought  that  any  priviliges  they  might  have  were  purely  of 
mercy  and  grace.  We  get  many  glimpses  of  this  in  the  Old 
Testament  which,  perhaps  as  well  as  any,  will  serve  to  illus- 
trate this  fact,  especially  in  the  Books  of  Esther  and  Daniel. 
In  these  stories,  whom  they  would,  the  kings  exalted,  and 
whom  they  would,  they  put  to  death.  Nebuchadnezzar  was 
astonished  beyond  measure  when  the  three  Hebrew  young 
men  refused  to  bow  down  to  his  golden  image.  Among  the 
Greeks,  Sparta,  though  not  a  monarchy,  was  tyrannous  in  its 
rule,  so  far  as  its  subjects  and  citizens  were  concerned.  In 
Athens,  the  responsibility  of  the  government  to  the  body  of 
its  citizens  was  more  direct.  In  the  modern  view,  the  fact 
of  this  responsibility  to  the  people  is  tremendously  empha- 
sized. There  seems  to  be  a  very  clear  line  of  distinction  run- 
ning through  men's  thinking  between  the  state  and  nation. 
It  is  the  nation  that  has  heart  and  history,  around  it  we 
weave  our  poetry  and  music,  we  glorify  it  with  personality. 
The  nation  is  the  object  of  our  patriotic  love  and  devotion 
and  for  it  we  fight,  and  bleed,  and  die.  But  the  state  we 
have  come  to  look  upon  as  the  organization  that  we  must 
necessarily  use  to  carry  out  the  purpose  of  our  complex  so- 
ciety, the  means  with  which  to  protect  the  rights  of  the  in- 
dividuals and  to  prevent  or  reduce  to  a  minimum  their  clash- 
ing. There  is  a  constant  effort  among  all  civilized  peoples, 
to  change  and  to  improve  the  government.  This  is  the  mean- 
ing of  Parliament,  Congress,  and  Legislature.    This  effort  is 

66 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

not  confined  to  minor  matters,  but  extends  to  the  funda- 
mental functions  of  the  state.  In  England  there  is  a  move- 
ment for  the  abolition  of  the  House  of  Lords;  in  America 
for  the  election  of  Senators  by  the  people.  Provision  is  made 
in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  for  its  own  change. 
This  goes  so  far  that  the  complete  change  of  the  form  of 
government  is  conceded  to  be  within  the  power  of  the  people, 
when  they  think  the  government  is  failing  to  meet  its  re- 
sponsibility. This  was  the  express  claim  of  the  Revolution- 
ary fathers  in  breaking  away  from  Great  Britain  and  estab- 
lishing this  government.  Rebellions  are  not  an  invention  of 
modern  times.  All  through  history  when  tyranny  became 
unbearable,  or  when  an  ambitious  man  desired  to  become 
king,  a  rebellion  would  break  out.  Yet  not  until  civilization 
had  made  considerable  progress  did  men  believe  that  a  people 
had  a  right  to  change  their  form  of  government.  This  does 
not  mean  that  men  should  change  governments  within  a 
state  or  overthrow  the  state  itself,  and  rebuild  upon  every 
change  in  public  opinion.  The  natural  development  of  civ- 
ilization has  thrown  around  us  many  things  that  act  as  a 
brake  in  order  to  give  time  to  mature  our  thinking,  and  yet 
the  whole .  trend  of  civilization  is  to  prevent  these  brakes 
from  becoming  impassible  barriers.  This  new  emphasis  upon 
the  responsibility  of  the  state  to  the  people  in  our  modern 
thinking  is  due  in  part  to  the  doctrine  of  social  contract  as 
taught  by  Rousseau,  and  to  others  who  to  a  greater  or  lesser 
degree,  followed  in  his  footsteps.  Of  course  the  presumption 
of  a  state  of  nature  with  which  he  started,  is  not  now  con- 
sidered seriously,  nor  it  is  true  that  all  government  can  be 
overthrown,  and  men,  at  will,  return  to  primeval  conditions, 
suggested  by  such  a  state  of  nature,  for  since  man  is  a  social 
being,  and  since  the  state  is  just  as  natural  an  institution 
as  is  man  himself,  he  must  have  some  form  of  organic  gov- 
ernment. There  is  a  real  contract  between  the  state  and  the 
individuals   composing  it.     The  relations   existing  between 

67 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

them  are  involuntary  on  either  side,  but  are  none  the  less 
real.  For  relations  involve  duties  on  either  side  toward  the 
other,  and  rights  on  either  side  which  must  be  respected  by 
the  other,  and  these  have  all  the  force  of  a  contract. 

"We  have  referred  to  the  spirit  and  purpose  of  the  state  as 
viewed  by  the  modem  mind,  and  have  concluded  that  the 
responsibility  of  the  state  is  a  very  real  and  tangible  thing. 
It  now  becomes  necessary  to  study  a  little  more  closely,  the 
contents  of  that  responsibility. 

Mark  Hopkins  says,  "  Government  has  no  right  to  be,  ex- 
cept as  it  is  necessary  to  secure  the  ends  of  the  individual 
in  his  social  capacity  and  it  must,  therefore,  be  bound  so  to 
he  as  to  secure  these  ends  in  the  best  possible  manner.  This 
is  the  whole  principle,  and  only  the  full  application  of  it  is 
needed  to  make  governmental  and  social  movements  on  the 
earth  correspond  in  their  order  and  beauty  to  the  movements 
of  the  heavens."  ^  This  conception  of  the  responsibility  of 
the  state  involves  two  things:  (1)  The  protection  of  the  in- 
dividual in  his  rights,  and  (2)  the  promotion  of  such  condi-, 
tions  of  life  as  will  secure  the  highest  good  of  the  individual. 
The  (1)  protection  of  the  individual  in  his  rights  involves 
the  protection  of  these  rights  against  outside  attack.  Thus, 
if  an  American  citizen  is  falsely  arrested  in  London  or  Can- 
ton, it  is  the  business  of  this  government  to  secure  his  re- 
lease. If  a  foreign  nation  should  send  an  army  or  fleet  to 
attack  one  of  our  states,  it  would  be  the  business  of  the 
general  government  to  protect  the  citizens  of  that  state.  We 
pay  many  millions  of  dollars  in  taxes  every  year  to  ensure 
the  state  the  power  to  thus  protect  our  rights.  Again,  the 
protection  of  the  individual  in  his  rights  involves  the  protec- 
tion of  these  rights  from  interference  from  other  citizens.  It 
is  for  this  purpose  the  police  power  of  the  state  is  estab- 
lished.   No  man  or  set  of  men  shall  interfere  with  me  in  the 

1  Moral  Science,  p.  266. 
68 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

exercise  of  my  rights,  my  life  shall  not  be  attacked,  my  per- 
son confined,  my  property  taken  without  due  process  of  law 
and  then,  if  at  all,  by  the  authority  of  the  state  itself.^  The 
state  cannot  fail  in  this  responsibility.  No  government  can 
endure  that  cannot  protect  its  citizens  against  a  foreign  foe. 
Napoleon  Bonaparte  and  Louis  Napoleon  both  resigned  their 
government  when  the  enemy  took  Paris,  and  when  the 
Northern  Armies  overran  the  South,  it  became  only  a  ques- 
tion of  time  when  the  Confederacy  would  fall.  The  excep- 
tion to  this  rule,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Revolutionary  Fathers, 
or  the  Netherlands  only  goes  to  show  the  unusual  heroism  of 
those  peoples.  On  the  other  hand,  when  a  state  cannot  pre- 
serve order  among  its  citizens,  when  life  is  endangered,  prop- 
erty pillaged  and  the  police  powerless,  either  the  people  rise 
up,  take  the  power  into  their  own  hand  or  anarchy  prevails. 
Herbert  Spencer  strikes  a  true  note  when  he  insists  that  the 
protection  afforded  by  the  state  should  be  such  that  a  man/ 
should  be  able  to  reap  the  benefits  of  his  good  deeds  on  the 
one  hand,  and  on  the  other  that  he  should  not  be  shielded 
from  the  results  of  his  evil  deeds.^ 

The  second  thing  involved  in  this  conception  of  the  re- 
sponsibility of  the  state  is,  the  promotion  of  such  condition 
of  life  as  will  secure  the  highest  good  of  the  individual.  It 
took  men  a  long  time  to  learn  the  value  of  working  together, 
that  a  thousand  working  together  could  accomplish  very 
much  that  they  could  not  do  at  all  working  singly.  They  first 
discovered  this  in  war,  families  came  together  for  defence 
or  warriors  came  together  for  conquest.  Later,  they  learned 
that  cooperation  in  peaceful  pursuits  was  also  possible,  and 
we  have  learned  that  it  is  a  tremendously  more  significant 
thing.  Men  have  associated  themselves  together  for  all  kinds 
of  enterprises.     There  are  all  sorts  of  societies  for  all  sorts 

*  Spencer,  Principle,  Ethics,  vol.  iv.,  p.  213. 
« Ethics,  vol.  iv.,  p.  213. 
69 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

of  purposes.  With  many  of  these,  the  state  can  have  noth- 
ing to  do  in  a  direct  way,  because  they  are  matters  of  in- 
dividual taste,  and  in  no  way  involve  a  conflict  of  rights, 
either  between  individuals  or  between  the  state  and  in- 
dividuals. But  there  are  certain  cooperative  enterprises 
which  are  beyond  the  power  of  men  to  undertake  as  indiv- 
viduals,  and  which  are  imperatively  necessary  for  men's  pro- 
tection against  harm,  or  for  the  progress  and  well  being  of 
the  community,  and  which  might  be  blocked  by  the  selfish- 
ness or  blindness  of  some  individuals,  if  it  were  left  a  matter 
of  voluntary  cooperation;  which  the  state,  because  of  its 
physical  power  over  men,  is  able  to  undertake,  and  must  un- 
dertake for  the  community.  The  state  must  undertake  the 
protection  of  the  health  of  the  community.  It  is  manifestly 
impossible  for  the  individual  to  protect  himself  against  foul 
conditions  in  his  neighbor's  yard  that  breed  disease.  It  is 
impossible  for  him  to  stand  at  the  gates  of  the  city  to  keep 
out  smallpox,  yellow  fever,  or  the  black  plague;  he  could 
not  do  it  alone  if  he  would.  It  is  impossible  for  him  to  do 
the  many  things  that  are  now  done  for  him,  to  give  him 
security  against  such  attacks.  So  a  Board  of  Health,  with 
state  authority,  does  the  work.  The  individual  citizen  is 
compelled  to  cooperate  with  it,  willingly  or  unwillingly;  he 
is  quarantined,  he  is  compelled  to  observe  certain  hygienic 
conditions  on  his  premises.  The  Board  of  Health  will  even 
go  so  far  as  to  compel  the  children  of  the  public  schools  to 
submit  to  having  their  eyes  examined,  and  be  vaccinated. 
No  one  will  question  the  responsibility  of  the  state  thus  to 
protect  the  health  of  the  people.  The  state  deems  the  educa- 
tion of  its  children  to  be  necessary,  not  only  for  the  general 
good  of  the  community,  but  indispensable  for  the  safety  of 
the  state.  So  provision  is  made  in  the  great  public  school 
system  for  the  education  of  the  children,  and  laws  are  enacted 
to  compel  the  attendance  of  the  children  at  school.  Truant 
officers  are  appointed  to  see  that  the  law  is  obeyed.     More 

70 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

than  this,  night  schools,  and  colleges,  industrial  schools, 
technical  schools,  etc.,  etc.,  are  provided,  in  many  instances  at 
state  expense.  Hospitals  are  not  within  the  reach  of  the 
individual.  When  a  man  is  taken  sick  he  cannot  build  a 
hospital  for  himself  and  equip  it,  nor  can  he  maintain  one 
lest  he  should  become  sick.  So  hospitals,  of  necessity,  must 
be  cooperative  enterprises,  and  in  many  instances,  because  of 
the  imperative  need,  the  state  must  build  and  maintain  them. 
Certain  enterprises  which  seem  to  be  necessary  for  the 
public  good  are  taken  up  by  the  state.  The  state  builds  the 
roads  through  the  country,  or  the  city  lays  out  the  streets 
and  avenues,  and  paves  and  improves  them.  A  postal  system 
is  established,  it  seems  absolutely  necessary  that  it  should  be 
done  by  governmental  authority,  and  no  one  is  disposed  to 
dispute  it.  In  many  instances  the  authority  of  the  state 
goes  even  farther.  A  new  railroad  or  an  extension  of  an  old 
one  is  deemed  necessary,  a  subway  or  a  bridge ;  not  only  does 
the  city  or  state  actually  build  it,  as  in  some  instances,  but 
proceeds  to  condemn  property  necessary  for  the  purpose. 
Athens  was  beauty-mad  and  used  the  authority  and  money  of 
the  city  to  adorn  it  with  temples,  statues,  and  works  of  art. 
Moreover,  the  state  feels  a  certain  responsibility  for  the 
moral  well-being  of  its  citizens,  particularly  of  its  children. 
It  has  gone  to  many  extremes  to  meet  this  responsibility. 
Against  some  of  these  extreme  measures  there  has  been  a 
reaction,  but  it  has  never  been  a  reaction  that  lessened  the 
sense  of  responsibility  of  the  state  for  the  moral  well-being 
of  its  citizens.  The  state  now  sharply  distinguishes  between 
this  and  religion.  The  state  does  not  care  anything  about  a 
man's  religion,  but  very  much  about  his  moral  character.) 
For  this  reason  obscene  literature  is  suppressed,  and  certain 
safeguards  are  thrown  around  the  young,  as  the  provision  of 
the  law  that  liquor  shall  not  be  sold  to  minors.  Again  the 
state  feels  responsible,  to  a  certain  degree,  for  its  indigent 
and  pauper  population,  and  makes  provision  for  them,  like- 

71 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

wise  for  the  insane,  blind,  and  other  afflicted  classes.    These 
things  are  part  of  the  responsibility  of  the  government. 

How  far  the  state  should  go  in  attempting  to  improve 
condition  and  how  much  should  be  left  to  individual  initia- 
tion, or  that  of  voluntary  organizations  is  a  much  mooted 
question.  Herbert  Spencer  lays  down  as  fundamental  the 
position  that  the  state  has  the  right  to  safeguard  the  prin- 
ciple of  equal  liberty  and  that  only;  he  says,  "What,  then 
becomes  the  duty  of  the  society  in  its  corporate  capacity,  that 
is,  of  the  state?  Assuming  that  it  is  no  longer  called  on  to 
guard  against  external  dangers,  what  does  there  remain 
which  it  is  called  on  to  do  ?  If  the  desideratum  alike  for  the 
individuals,  for  society,  and  for  the  race,  is  that  the  in- 
dividuals shall  be  such  as  can  fulfill  their  several  lives  sub- 
ject to  the  conditions  named ;  ^  then  it  is  for  society  in  the 
corporate  capacity  to  insist  that  these  conditions  shall  be 
conformed  to.  Whether  in  the  absence  of  war,  a  government 
has  or  has  not  anything  more  to  do  than  this,  it  is  clear  that 
it  has  this,  and  it  is  clear  that  it  is  not  permissible  to  do 
an3rthing  that  hinders  the  doing  of  this.  Hence  the  ques- 
tion of  limits  becomes  the  question,  whether  beyond  main- 
taining justice,  the  state  can  do  anything  else  without  trans- 
gressing justice.  On  consideration  we  find  it  cannot."  2  in 
working  out  this  theory  Spencer  argues  for  the  increasing 
restriction  of  state  powers  and  state  duties,  for  the  larger 
scope  of  individual  freedom,  and  the  larger  field  for  volun- 
tary cooperation.  He  would  hold  that  the  individual  must 
be  absolutely  free  in  working  out  his  own  destiny  even  if  it 
is  an  evil  destiny,  so  that  it  be  his  own,  the  result  of  his  own 
free  act,  and  so  that  he  shall  enjoy  or  suffer  the  fruits  of  it. 

*  Other  things  being  equal,  the  greatest  prosperity  and  multiplica- 
tion of  efl&cient  individuals  will  occur  where  each  is  so  constituted  that 
he  can  fulfill  the  requirements  of  his  own  nature  without  interfering 
with  the  fulfillment  of  such  requirements  by  others.  Spencer,  Ethics, 
vol.  iv.,  p.  221.  2  Ethics,  vol.  iv.,  pp.  121-2. 

72 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

It  is  not  clear,  however,  how  far  he  would  protect  the  weak 
against  the  strong,  and  he  does  not  seem  to  think  that  the 
state  has  any  responsibility  for  the  improvement  of  condi- 
tions. He  says  that  *'  Money  taken  from  the  citizen  not  to 
pay  the  costs  of  guarding  against  injury  his  person,  prop- 
erty, and  liberty,  but  to  pay  the  costs  of  other  actions  to 
which  he  has  given  no  assent,  inflicts  injury  instead  of  pre- 
venting it."  ^  A  direct  application  of  this  principle  would 
bar  out  public  schools,  charities  of  all  kinds,  and  public 
utilities,  except  as  they  were  controlled  and  supported  by 
voluntary  cooperation.  T.  H.  Green  objects  to  this  view  of 
the  function  of  the  state  on  the  ground  that  it  tends  to  be 
obstructive  to  advancing  civilization,^  and  he  says,  "  That  the 
ground  of  political  obligation,  the  reason  why  certain  powers 
should  be  recognized  as  belonging  to  the  state  and  certain 
other  powers  as  secured  by  the  state  to  individuals  lies  in  the 
fact  that  these  powers  are  necessary  to  the  fulfillment  of 
man's  vocation  as  a  moral  being,  to  an  effectual  self  devotion 
to  the  work  of  developing  the  perfect  character  in  himself 
and  others.'^  ^ 

With  the  varying  conditions  of  society  and  the  varying 
stages  of  human  development  no  clear  lines  of  demarcation 
can  be  drawn  between  the  spheres  of  the  state  and  voluntary 
cooperation  in  the  improvement  of  environment;  instead  the 
line  itself  is  variable,  but  that  it  is  the  obligation  of  society  to 
seek  to  secure  the  best  conditions  for  the  development  of  the 
individual  and  of  the  race  is  clear.  To  meet  the  obligation 
involved  in  this,  Spencer's  theory  of  equal  liberty  to  all  must 
have  a  wider  interpretation  than  he  gives  it,  and  must  mean 
that  rights  must  be  safeguarded  impartially,  but  it  must  also 
mean  that  all  surrenders  of  individual  rights  for  the  higher 
good  of  the  community  must  also  be  impartially  required, 

1  Ethics,  vol.  iv.,  p.  223. 

2  Works,  vol.  ii.,  p.  345.  » Ibid.,  349. 

73 


MORAL  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

for  as  Green  has  well  said,  "Advancing  civilization  brings 
with  it  more  and  more  interference  with  the  liberty  of  the 
individual  to  do  as  he  pleases."  ^ 

The  fact  of  the  responsibility  of  the  state  carries  with  it 
also  the  power  necessary  to  meet  that  responsibility.  Some 
writers  would  say  that  since  the  state  is  of  divine  origin  this 
power  must  be  given  the  state  of  God,  and  the  simple  recog- 
nition of  the  inherent  necessity  of  the  state  in  the  natural 
order  of  human  development  carries  with  it  the  same  prac- 
tical conclusion.  But  while  we  may  acknowledge  this  as  an 
ultimate  statement,  there  is  yet  a  very  real  sense  in  which 
the  people  are  the  source  of  power  in  the  modem  conception 
of  government,  especially  in  popular  or  representative  gov- 
ernment. It  is  impossible  in  such  a  government  to  enforce 
laws  sustained  only  by  a  minority  of  the  people.  Laws 
against  the  opinion  of  the  majority  of  the  people  have  been 
a  dead  letter,  except  when  the  larger  political  unit  has  forced 
its  will  upon  the  smaller  one.  The  necessity  of  such  power 
to  meet  the  responsibility  of  the  state  is  unquestionable.  It 
is  tacitly  involved  in  the  involuntary  but  real  contract  be- 
tween the  state  and  the  individual  to  which  we  have  referred. 

'  Works,  vol.  ii.,  p.  345. 


U 


CHAPTBE   VII. 

THE   INDIVIDUAL   AND   HIS   RIGHTS. 

The  state  is  composed  of  individuals,  personalities.  This 
statement  is  so  palpably  true  as  to  seem  superfluous,  and 
yet  in  the  very  fact  stated  lies  the  whole  problem  of  the 
staters  duties  and  rights.  These  individuals  are  not  blocks 
of  wood  all  the  same  size  and  of  the  same  general  descrip- 
tion, which  some  mystical  power  we  call  the  state  uses  to 
build  any  kind  of  a  structure  it  desires;  but  each  individual 
has  character  of  his  own,  powers  of  mind  and  will,  responsi- 
bilities and  destiny  of  his  own,  and  this  being  true  it  follows 
that  each  individual  has  rights  of  his  own.  We  have  already 
said  that  it  is  to  preserve  these  rights  that  the  state  exists, 
so  it  would  seem  necessary  to  study  them  and  their  bases  a 
little  more  carefully. 

What  are  the  basic  rights  of  the  individual  and  their 
bases?  When  we  think  of  the  prominent  place  the  sense  of 
the  possession  of  rights  has  in  our  own  consciousness,  we  are 
surprised  that  the  discussion  of  it  should  have  arisen  so  late 
in  human  development.  There  must  have  been  some  such 
sense  in  the  consciousness  of  men  as  far  back  as  we  can  go, 
for  in  no  other  way  can  we  explain  their  seeking  vengeance 
for  wrongs  suffered  and  their  rebellion  against  oppression  and 
tyranny,  but  it  must  have  been  a  very  inarticulate  thing  in 
the  mind.  Even  when  civilization  reached  the  high  level  of 
the  Greeks,  and  the  palmy  day  of  philosophy  found  expres- 
sion in  Socrates,  Plato,  and  Aristotle,  we  find  no  discussion 
of  rights  as  such.    We  find  discussion  of  ends,  of  goods,  and 

75 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

of  justice,  in  all  of  which  the  thought  of  rights  finds  more 
or  less  expression,  but  does  not  segregate  itself  clearly  before 
the  mind,  for  instance,  "  But  justice  is  the  bond  of  men  in 
states,  and  the  admiuistration  of  justice,  which  is  the  deter- 
mination of  what  is  just,  is  the  principle  of  order  in  political 
society."  ^ 

The  Romans  made  no  contribution  to  the  philosophical 
discussion  of  the  subject,  but  did  make  a  real  contribution 
to  the  practical  development  of  the  doctrine  of  the  respon- 
sibilities of  the  state  for  the  safeguarding  of  the  rights  and 
privileges  of  Roman  citizens.  The  right  of  a  hearing  before 
being  punished  for  any  crime  charged,  and  the  right  of  an 
appeal  to  Caesar  were  among  these  rights.  It  is  true  that 
these  rights  and  privileges  were  confined  to  a  certain  class, 
still  the  fact  that  they  were  recognized  at  all  was  a  distinct 
advance. 

It  was  not  until  the  beginning  of  the  modern  era  that  the 
term,  rights,  found  its  way  into  political  and  philosophical 
dicussion.  One  of  the  earliest  to  discuss  it  was  Thomas 
Aquinas.  He  says  "Right,  or  a  just  settlement,  is  some 
work  made  adequate  to  another  work  according  to  some 
measure  of  quality.  Now  a  man  may  get  an  adequate  re- 
turn in  two  ways;  in  one  way,  by  the  very  nature  of  the 
thing,  as  when  one  gives  so  much  to  receive  exactly  so  much ; 
this  is  called  natural  right,  another  way  is  by  convention 
.  .  .  this  is  called  positive  right."  ^  As  might  be  expected 
there  has  been  quite  a  difference  of  opinion  in  the  discussion 
and  it  might  be  as  well  to  quote  a  few  of  the  representative 
views  before  we  take  up  the  discussion  of  the  question  itself. 
"  The  Rights  of  Nature  which  writers  commonly  call  Jiis 
Naturale,  is  the  liberty  each  man  hath  to  use  his  own  power, 
as  he  will  himself,  for  the  preservation  of  his  own  nature: 

1  Aristotle,  Politics,  vol.  i.,  pp.  2-16. 

*  Aquinas  Athines,  Joseph  Rickaby,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  8,  9. 

76 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

that  is  to  say  of  his  own  life :  and  consequently  of  doing  any- 
thing, which  in  his  own  judgment  and  reason,  he  shall  con- 
ceive to  be  the  aptest  means  thereto.'^  ^  This  statement  is 
made  from  the  standpoint  of  nature  and  the  whole  chapter 
is  given  to  the  discussion  of  the  proposition  of  the  liberty  of 
surrendering  rights  and  entering  into  the  social  contract. 
Locke  conceives  of  the  state  of  nature  in  similar  terms.  He 
says,  "To  understand  political  power  aright,  and  derive  it 
from  its  original  we  must  consider  what  state  all  men  are 
naturally  in,  and  that  is  a  state  of  perfect  freedom  to  order 
their  actions,  and  dispose  of  their  possessions  and  persons  as 
they  think  fit,  within  the  bounds  of  the  law  of  nature,  with- 
out asking  leave,  or  depending  upon  the  will  of  any  other 
man,"  ^  Rousseau  has  the  same  view  of  the  state  of  nature 
in  which  man  has  absolute  control  of  himself  and  the  right  to 
such  means  of  good  as  seems  best  to  him  within  the  limits 
of  natural  law.  But  they  differ  in  their  methods  of  effecting 
the  social  contract  and  the  status  of  the  individual  within 
the  contract.  With  Locke  the  purpose  of  the  contract  is  "  to 
guarantee  an  impartial  judge  and  efficient  enforcement  of 
the  law  of  nature."  ^  Rousseau  seeks  "  To  find  a  form  of 
association  which  may  defend  and  protect  with  the  whole 
force  of  the  community,  the  person  and  the  property  of  every 
associate,  and  by  means  of  which  each,  coalescing  with  all, 
may  nevertheless  obey  only  himself  and  remain  free  as  be- 
fore." *  Hutchinson  makes  two  distinctions  in  rights:  (2) 
Perfect  rights  or  that  which  tends  towards  the  public  good, 
and  imperfect  rights,  such  as  when  universally  violated  would 
tend  to  make  all  men  miserable.  (6)  Alienable  and  inalien- 
able, such  that  when  we  may  by  transferring  serve  some 
good  are  alienable,  and  such  that  cannot  be  so  transferred  as 

1  Leviathan,  pp.  1-14. 

'  Government,  vol.  ii.,  chap.  ii. 

»  Green,  vol.  ii.,  p.  386. 

*  Social  Contract,  vol.  i.,  p.  6. 

77 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

our  right  to  serve  God  are  inalienable.^  Thomas  H.  Green, 
in  discussing  the  question,  has  this  to  say :  "  There  is  a 
system  of  rights  and  obligations  which  should  be  maintained 
by  law,  whether  it  is  so  or  not,  and  which  may  properly 
be  called  '  natural ' :  not  in  the  sense  in  which  the  term 
*  natural '  would  imply  that  such  a  system  even  did  or  could 
exist  independently  of  force  exercised  by  society  over  in- 
dividuals, but  *  natural '  because  necessary  to  the  end  which 
it  is  the  vocation  of  human  society  to  realize."  ^  Blackstone 
classes  the  rights  of  persons  considered  in  their  natural 
capacities  as  of  two  sorts,  absolute  and  relative.  "By  ab- 
solute rights  of  individuals  we  mean  those  which  are  so  in 
their  primary  and  strictest  sense,  such  as  would  belong  to 
their  persons  merely  in  a  state  of  nature,  and  which  every 
man  is  entitled  to  enjoy  whether  out  of  society  or  in  it."  He 
defines  these  absolute  rights  as  of  three  kinds.  (1)  The 
right  of  personal  security  which  consists  of  a  person's  legal 
and  uninterrupted  enjoyment  of  his  life,  his  limbs,  his  body, 
his  health,  and  his  reputation.  (2)  Personal  liberty.  (3) 
The  right  of  property.  By  relative  rights  he  means  those 
rights  of  persons  which  are  incident  to  them  as  members  of 
society  and  standing  in  various  relations  to  each  other.^ 
Mulford  divides  rights  into  Natural  and  Positive.  Natural 
rights  are  founded  in  human  nature.  They  are  inherent; 
they  are  written  in  the  law  and  constitution  of  man.  Posi- 
tive rights  are  enacted  in  the  law  and  embodied  in  the  insti- 
tutions of  the  nations.*  One  more  quotation  is  needed  to 
complete  this  view.  Herbert  Spencer  finds  "Eights,  truly 
so-called,  are  corollaries  from  the  law  of  equal  freedom,  and 
what  are  falsely  called  rights  are  not  deducible  from  it."  He 
then  proceeds  to  deduce  as  corollaries  from  the  law  of  equal 
freedom  the  following  rights.      (1)    The  rights  to  physical 

^  An  inquiry  concerning  the  original  of  our  ideas  of  virtue  or  moral 
good.     Sec.  vii.,  pp.  6-7.  '  Commentary,  vol.  i.,  p.  1. 

« Vol.  ii.,  pp.  339-340.  «  Nation,  pp.  75-77. 

78 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

integrity.  (2)  The  rights  of  free  motion  and  locomotion. 
(3)  The  rights  to  the  uses  of  the  natural  media.  (4)  The 
rights  of  property.  (5)  The  rights  of  incorporal  property. 
(6)  The  rights  of  gift  and  bequest.  (7)  The  rights  of  free 
exchange  and  free  contract.  (8)  The  rights  of  free  indus- 
try. (9)  The  rights  of  free  belief  and  worship.  (10)  The 
rights  of  free  speech  and  publication.^ 

There  has  been  much  confusion  in  the  discussion  of  the 
subject  because  of  the  effort  to  segregate  man  as  an  in- 
dividual, an  effort  to  determine  man's  rights  as  an  individual 
independent  of  society,  or  in  a  natural  state  so-called.  The 
fact  is  that  he  simply  does  not  exist,  never  has  existed,  and 
never  can  exist  independent  of  society,  or  some  form  of  social 
order.  This  confusion  has  resulted  in  overlooking  the  very 
qualities  that  make  the  individual  what  he  is.  By  the  con- 
stitution of  Nature  every  man  has  an  original  endowment 
that  makes  him  distinct  from  all  other  men,  but  these  very 
qualities  that  constitute  his  individuality  are  only  operative 
in  a  social  order  where  many  such  individuals  of  distinctive 
ability  and  service  are  complementary  to  each  other,  and 
moreover,  the  whole  trend  of  the  influence  of  society  in  the 
development  of  the  individual  is  to  emphasize  these  very  in- 
dividual qualities,  and  as  necessities  arise  create  new  ones. 
Man  is  a  social  being  just  as  really  as  he  is  a  moral  being. 
He  is  a  moral  being  because  he  is  a  social  being,  he  could 
have  no  moral  responsibility  if  he  did  not  sustain  the  rela- 
tions with  God  and  man  that  make  him  a  social  being. 
Therefore  he  has  no  rights  merely  because  he  is  a  man  or 
an  individual  unless  the  term  man  is  understood  in  this 
larger  moral  and  social  sense.  It  is  because  he  is  a  moral 
being  with  social  relations  that  he  has  any  rights  at  all. 

If  this  view  is  correct,  there  can  be  no  rights  without  cor- 
responding obligations  or  duties.    The  very  basis  of  any  right 

^  Ethics,  part  iv. 
79 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

I  may  claim  is  the  recognition  that  every  other  man  can  claim 
a  like  right,  and  if  I  ask  society  to  guarantee  me  in  that 
right  as  an  integral  part  of  society  I  must  guarantee  every 
other  man  in  the  same  way.  Man's  rights,  therefore,  are 
based  upon  responsibility.  From  this  point  of  view  there 
are  no  inalienable  rights.  A  man  may  surrender  his  life  for 
the  common  good,  he  may  forego  his  own  happiness  to  society 
because  of  injury  done  it.  But  we  may  safely  say  that 
from  this  point  of  view  there  are  certain  fundamental  natural 
rights,  and  that  all  other  rights  are  deducible  from  them. 

I.  The  Right  to  Life. 

Life  is  so  sacred  that  we  regard  murder  as  the  greatest 
of  crimes.  The  right  to  life,  or  to  physical  integrity  as 
Spencer  puts  it,  is  universally  recognized.  It  is  diflBcult  for 
us  to  understand  how  slow  has  been  the  development  of  this 
conception  of  life,  but  if  we  look  back  over  the  path  the  race 
has  travelled,  we  can  see  the  various  stages  of  that  develop- 
ment. It  is  not  long  since  that  men  were  put  to  death  for 
minor  crimes;  further  back  we  see  cripple  children  put  to 
death  at  birth,  as  among  the  Spartans,  and  then  the  aged 
and  the  useless  put  to  death  because  they  were  a  burden  on 
society.  Further  still,  the  murderer  compounding  with  the 
relatives  of  the  murdered  man  for  his  crime,  the  elders  of 
the  clan  only  seeing  that  the  terms  are  fulfilled.  It  is  sig- 
nificant that  the  progress  of  the  development  of  the  sacred- 
ness  of  life  has  been  parallel  to  the  development  of  man's 
realization  of  his  social  nature.  A  very  brief  survey  of 
human  history  will  make  this  clear.  When  life  was  held  at 
its  cheapest  value  the  race  was  in  savagery.  As  clan  life 
developed  its  social  side,  a  rise  in  the  value  of  life  is  ob- 
served. With  the  more  settled  conditions  of  agricultural  life 
and  later  city  life,  murder  became  a  crime;  and  the  margin 
between  men  and  starvation  becoming  greater,  the  aged  and 

80 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

crippled  were  permitted  to  live.  Finally,  with  the  wonderful 
development  of  social  relations  in  the  last  two  centuries, 
greater  effort  has  been  made  to  protect  life,  and  laws  were 
repealed  that  executed  men  for  minor  crimes.  So  that  it  is 
undoubtedly  true  that  the  sacredness  of  life  is  based  upon 
the  fact  that  man  is  a  member  of  society  rather  than  that 
he  is  an  individual. 

(a)  This  carries  with  it,  as  a  corollary,  the  right  to  physi- 
cal integrity,  to  the  free  use  of  my  members.  No  one  has  the 
right  to  temporarily  or  permanently  deprive  me  of  them; 
no  one  may  attack  me  and  put  out  my  eye  or  cut  off  my 
hand,  neither  may  one  bind  me  and  thus  temporarily  de- 
prive me  of  the  use  of  my  limbs. 

(&)  This  carries  with  it  also  the  right  to  protection  from 
harmful  conditions,  as  unsanitary  conditions  of  the  house  I 
rent,  or  the  neighborhood  in  which  I  live.  The  trains  or 
steamships  upon  which  I  travel  must  be  as  safe  as  possible, 
and  it  is  the  duty  of  the  state  to  surround  me  with  the  best 
safeguards  of  personal  safety  and  physical  health. 

(c)  Moreover,  this  primary  right  to  life  carries  with  it 
the  right  to  the  very  best  conditions  for  the  best  possible 
development  of  life,  for  the  most  efficient  physical  life.  It 
is  for  this  reason  that  the  state  provides  us  with  playgrounds 
and  parks,  that  it  attempts  to  regulate  the  number  of  hours 
that  shall  constitute  a  day's  work. 

Now  this  right  of  mine  carries  with  it  a  corresponding  re- 
sponsibility, first,  to  protect  my  life,  to  earn  my  living,  to 
defend  myself  against  unfavorable  conditions.  In  the  last 
analysis  the  right  to  life  carries  with  it  the  responsibility 
for  it.  If  I  fail  to  meet  that  responsibility,  I  cannot  hold 
the  state  responsible  for  it.  I  must  be  the  sufferer,  a  highet 
authority  than  the  laws  of  the  state,  the  laws  of  nature,  has 
ordained  that.  If  the  state  fails  of  its  responsibility  by  the 
authority  of  the  same  laws  of  nature,  the  state  will  suffer  and 
repeated  failure  will  mean  its  loss  of  right  to  rule.     And 

81 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

second,  the  duty  of  fulfilling  my  part  as  a  member  of  society 
in  guaranteeing  the  same  right  to  others. 

II.  The  Right  to  Happiness. 

By  happiness  we  mean  that  condition  of  feeling  in  which 
the  pleasant  and  the  agreeable  predominate  over  the  painful 
and  disagreeable.  It  is  to  be  distinguished  from  pleasure  by 
its  greater  permanency  and  by  the  greater  emphasis  upon 
the  intellectual  and  moral.  We  have  no  concern  with  the 
age-long  controversy  about  the  place  of  pleasure  and  pain  in 
this  life,  whether  it  is  the  aim  and  controlling  motive  of  life 
or  only  the  indicator  of  health  and  disease.  In  any  event 
man  has  a  right  to  happiness  so  far  as  he  can  win  it.  If  he 
can  so  protect  and  develop  his  physical  life  as  to  experience 
the  pleasure  of  health,  he  has  the  right  to  that  enjoyment, 
and  society,  as  far  as  it  can,  must  protect  him  in  it.  So  he 
has  the  same  right  to  the  enjojmient  of  the  happiness  that 
comes  from  intellectual  and  moral  well-being.  A  man's 
happiness  involves  many  factors  in  addition  to  those  of 
physical  integrity  already  referred  to,  for  instance,  the 
right  to  work  and  earn  a  living  is  an  important  factor.  One 
of  the  most  difficult  and  delicate  problems  with  which  the 
state  has  had  to  deal  has  been  that  of  securing  to  every  man 
the  just  rewards  of  his  own  toil.  In  the  complementary 
character  of  the  work  of  men,  and  in  the  various  types  of 
service  rendered,  skilled  mechanical  work,  brain  work,  physi- 
cal labor,  etc.,  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  determine  the 
various  values,  but  that  it  is  the  supreme  task  of  the  state 
to  aid  in  determining  these  values  and  to  so  adjust  the  laws 
that  everyone  shall  receive  his  just  due,  is  beyond  question. 
These  rights  recognized,  it  still  remains  the  duty  and  respon- 
sibility of  every  man  to  earn  his  own  living.  The  world  owes 
no  man  a  living,  only  an  opportunity  to  earn  it,  and  the 
failure  to  recognize  this  is  the  cause  of  much  poverty.    More- 

82 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

over,  every  man  for  what  he  is,  what  he  has,  and  what  he  has 
an  opportunity  to  do  and  be,  owes  the  race  the  best  service 
he  can  render  toward  the  carrying  on  and  development  of 
the  world's  work,  and  only  as  he  recognizes  this  claim  upon 
him  has  he  any  rights  of  labor. 

Intellectual  culture  has  very  much  to  do  with  man's  hap- 
piness, and  the  state  is  providing  the  many  means  of  educa- 
tion, has  recognized  man's  right  to  an  education  and  its  re- 
sponsibility to  provide  the  means  up  to  the  full  limit  of  its 
ability.  It  has  even  gone  so  far  as  to  seek  to  compel  its 
youth  to  improve  these  opportunities  up  to  a  certain  age,  and 
its  justification  for  this  is  the  fact  of  the  service  it  has  a 
right  to  expect  from  its  citizens.  But  a  man's  right  to  an 
education  by  no  means  involves  an  education  without  the  toil 
of  securing  it,  and  again  the  responsibility  is  his,  and  if  he 
fails  the  evil  results  are  his  also. 

Without  doubt  the  moral  factor  is  the  most  important  one 
in  man's  happiness,  and  it  necessarily  follows  that  if  man  has 
a  right  to  happiness  he  has  a  right  to  such  conditions,  so  far 
as  the  state  and  society  can  provide  them,  as  will  give  him  a 
chance  to  reach  the  moral  requirements  of  happiness.  This 
right  involves  for  the  state  two  things:  First,  responsibility 
of  securing,  so  far  as  may  be,  such  condition  of  life  that  every 
man  will  receive  the  just  fruits  of  his  own  good  and  evil  deeds 
alike. ^  His  deeds  must  be  his  own,  the  result  of  his  own  free 
thinking.  This  means,  of  course,  freedom  of  opinion  and 
worship,  even  if  that  opinion  is  erroneous.  This  is  based 
again  upon  the  same  fact  of  personal  responsibility  for  moral 
character  as  a  factor  of  happiness.  If  nature  did  not  pro- 
vide that  man  must  be  good,  perforce,  neither  can  the  state, 
except  within  certain  limits  involved  by  the  rights  of  others. 
Every  man  is  responsible  for  himself,  and  it  is  the  business 
of  the  state  to  give  him  an  opportunity.    In  the  second  place, 

1  Spencer,  Ethics,  vol.  iv.,  p.  213. 
83 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

it  is  the  business  of  the  state  to  see  to  it  that  conditions  are 
as  favorable  for  morality  as  possible.  This  is  not  in  conflict 
with  the  above  position,  for  the  state  is  more  than  a  referee 
between  men.  Its  spirit  and  purpose  are  to  secure  the  highest 
good  of  men,  and  the  whole  evolution  of  the  state  is  toward 
such  organization  and  conditions  as  shall  more  and  more 
promote  the  highest  good  of  the  individuals  composing  it. 
If  this  is  not  true,  then  the  state  is  transcending  its  powers 
in  many  of  the  things  it  is  now  doing  in  an  educational  and 
philanthropic  way.  It  is  significant  that  the  perpetuity  and 
well-being  of  the  state  itself  as  such  is  dependent  upon  these 
moral  and  educational  agencies,  so  that  it  is  not  going  too  far 
to  say  that  men  have  a  right  to  expect  the  state  to  promote 
the  conditions  that  make  for  moral  good  of  the  community, 
and  to  curb  and  destroy  the  influence  that  seeks  to  lower  the 
moral  tone.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  while  the  right  of  hap- 
piness is  based  upon  the  laws  of  equal  freedom,  and  is  espe- 
cially applicable  to  the  lower  and  more  ephemeral  types  of 
pleasure,  that  there  is  scarcely  the  possibility  of  conflict  where 
men  seek  to  exercise  this  right  in  harmony  with  the  lines  laid 
down  herein. 

III.  The  Eight  of  Destiny. 

The  sense  of  the  right  of  destiny  is  comparatively  new 
among  men.  In  former  ages,  here  and  there,  a  man  would 
feel  that  he  must  achieve  a  destiny  worth  while  and  render  a 
great  service  to  the  race,  but  he  was  rather  exceptional.  The 
masses  of  men  felt  that  they  were  only  expected  to  earn  a 
living  and  keep  soul  and  body  together  as  best  they  could 
for  a  while,  and  pass  on  without  the  world  being  any  better 
or  worse  for  their  lives.  But  with  the  development  of  the 
social  side  of  human  life,  and  the  corresponding  development 
of  the  individual  there  has  come  to  men  a  profound  sense  of 
responsibility  for  service  to  the  world,  and  a  like  sense  of  a 

84 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

right  to  an  opportunity  to  meet  it.  Men  are  learning  that 
the  achievement  of  such  a  destiny  means  two  things — Char- 
acter and  service.  Thus  men  have  come  to  feel  that  society 
has  no  right  to  impose  upon  them  conditions  inimical  to  their 
rights,  but  on  the  other  hand,  ought  in  every  way  to  promote 
conditions  which  will  be  favorable  to  them.  But  the  right 
of  destiny  does  not  mean  any  lessening  of  personal  respon- 
sibility, rather  the  increasing  of  it,  for  while  society  will  be 
a  great  loser  in  a  man's  failure  to  realize  his  destiny,  still  he, 
himself,  will  be  the  chief  sufferer.  All  this  is  from  the  stand- 
point of  this  life.  If  immortality  is  taken  into  the  account, 
an  immortality  vitally  related  to  the  laws  that  govern  this 
life,  then  these  principles  are  emphasized  a  thousandfold. 
Growing  out  of  these  principles  are  many  rights  not  necessary 
to  discuss  here,  but  these  general  principles  form  the  basis 
upon  which  all  rights  are  founded. 


85 


CHAPTER   VIII. 


THE   CONFLICT   OF   RIGHTS. 


This  study  of  the  functions  and  responsibility  of  the  state, 
and  of  the  rights  of  the  individual  and  their  bases,  must  re- 
veal to  us  the  fact  that  a  conflict  of  rights  is  inevitable.  The 
positive  aggressive  character  of  men,  the  wide  divergencies 
of  temperament  and  ability,  and  the  absolute  necessity  for 
men  to  live  together,  and  that  in  close  proximity,  renders 
conflict  inevitable.  When  we  add  to  this  the  ignorance,  sel- 
fishness, and  greed  of  men,  the  fact  becomes  still  clearer.  On 
the  other  hand,  all  efforts  to  make  a  state  perfectly  serve  its 
purpose  have  failed  because  it  is  made  up  of  these  same  posi- 
tive, selfish,  greedy  men  to  a  large  degree.  The  salvation  of 
the  race  is  in  the  fact  that  some  men,  and  in  these  modern 
times  in  increasing  number  of  men,  are  seeking  the  public 
good.  The  course  of  history  confirms  this  view,  for  the  trail 
of  blood  has  been  the  result  of  the  conflict  of  rights  between 
individuals  and  between  them  and  the  state,  and  the  result 
also  of  a  vast  selfishness  that  passed  beyond  the  thought  of 
right  or  justice,  and  regarded  anything  it  could  get,  by  any 
means,  as  its  own. 

The  adjustment  of  rights  thus  far  reached  has  been  brought 
about  by  the  rubbing  of  men  against  each  other,  where  each 
was  compelled  to  give  and  take.  With  increasing  intelligence 
and  developing  character  what  men  should  give  and  take  be- 
came crystallized,  and  first  in  custom  and  then  in  both  cus- 
tom and  law,  until  finally  the  level  of  our  time  has  been 
reached.    There  are  many  rights  that  are  now  settled  in  that 

86 


MORAL  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

old-fashioned  way  of  men  rubbing  against  other,  and  many 
rights  that  men  claim  are  not  within  the  range  of  law  at  all, 
but  the  vast  majority  of  our  rights  are  compassed  in  the  laws 
and  institutions  of  the  land,  and  it  is  the  profoundest  task 
of  statesmen  to  so  mold  the  state  that  it  shall  be  able  to 
most  perfectly  meet  its  responsibilities  in  maintaining  men's 
rights  and  providing  favorable  conditions  for  the  development 
of  human  character.  In  the  performance  of  this  task  on  the 
part  of  the  state,  certain  clearly  defined  principles  must  stand 
out. 

(a)  The  maintenance  of  the  law  of  equal  freedom.^ 

This  law  as  laid  down  by  Spencer  needs  interpreting,  as 
Spencer  himself  admits  when  stating  it.  Loosely  stated,  an 
anarchist  might  use  it.  We  take  it,  therefore,  to  mean  that 
I  must  concede  to  others  whatever  rights  I  can  legitimately 
claim  for  myself.  I  claim  the  right  of  life,  with  all  that  this 
means  as  interpreted  in  this  paper,  then  I  must  concede  that 
right  to  others  and  respect  it.  I  claim  the  right  to  be  happy 
and  to  work  out  my  destiny,  as  a  human  being  possessing  a 
social  nature.  I  must  also  concede  to  every  other  man  the 
same  right.  It  is  the  function  of  the  state  to  enforce  this 
principle. 

(b)  The  second  principle  which  must  stand  out  is  the 
principle  of  the  largest  good  to  the  largest  number.  This  will 
be  important  especially  in  application  to  the  positive  functions 
of  the  state,  and  it  is  upon  this  principle  that  the  state  is 
enabled  to  carry  out  all  its  work  for  the  improvement  of  the 
conditions  of  life.  Oftentimes  men  are  prevented  from  doing 
things  that  might  seem  to  involve  rights  because  of  the  larger 
good,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  for  the  same  reason,  property 
is  confiscated  and  other  measures  adopted  for  the  public  good. 

(c)  The  final  principle  involves  the  safety  and  efficiency 
of  the  state  itself.     Self-preservation  is  the  first  law  of  life 

*  Spencer,  Ethics,  vol.  iv.,  p.  46. 
87 


MORAL  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

for  the  state  as  well  as  for  the  individual,  and  as  the  state 
is  a  necessity  to  man,  so  its  efficiency  depends  upon  the  integ- 
rity of  its  authority,  and  as  the  authority  of  the  state  is  neces- 
sary for  the  maintenance  of  the  rights  of  the  individual,  so 
it  must  have  the  right  of  way  above  the  rights  of  anyone,  or 
any  group  of  individuals.  This  principle  justifies  drafting 
men  in  time  of  war,  or  taking  property  for  the  use  of  the 
state  in  times  of  war,  as  churches  have  been  taken  for  hos- 
pitals at  such  times. 


88 


CHAPTEK    IX. 

THE   RIGHT   OF    THE   STATE   TO    CONTROL   THE    USE   AND   SALB^' 
OF   LIQUOR. 

/ 

(A)  To  what  extent  can  the  state  control  a  man's  personal 
habit  of  drinking?  The  highest  theory  of  the  right  of  the 
state  to  interfere  with  the  habits  of  the  individual  has  never 
gone  so  far  as  to  meddle  with  them  when  they,  in  their  effects, 
concerned  himself  alone.  There  are  some  exceptions  to  this 
general  statement,  as,  for  instance,  the  man  who  attempts 
suicide  will  be  arrested.  It  is  only  when  the  individual's  habit 
or  conduct  infringes  upon  the  rights  of  others  that  the  state 
exercises  authority.  However  anxious  the  state  may  be  to 
promote  morality,  or  however  beneficial  to  the  aims  of  the 
state  morality  on  the  part  of  its  citizens  may  be,  and  however 
much  the  state  may  seek  to  improve  conditions  of  life  with  a 
view  to  the  better  moral  development  of  the  citizens,  it  may 
not  coerce  the  individual  into  personal  habits  of  morality.  It 
is  when  the  profane,  unclean,  noisy,  or  drunken  man  disturbs 
his  neighbors  or  interferes  with  their  rights,  or  when  through 
his  immorality  or  drunkenness  he  fails  to  provide  for  his 
family,  or  in  any  way  endangers  their  safety  or  morality,  that 
the  state  steps  in.  The  state  will  take  children  away  from 
cruel  or  immoral  parents.  While  it  is  true  a  man  may  have 
the  right  to  get  drunk  so  far  as  the  laws  of  the  state  are  con- 
cerned, yet  being  a  member  of  society,  he  so  speedily  comes 
into  conflict  with  the  rights  of  others  that  it  may  be  said  that, 
practically,  he  has  no  such  right.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
state  has  the  right  to  do  everything  possible  that  will  make  it 

89 


ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS 

hard  for  a  man  to  get  dnink,  and  to  promote  such  conditions 
that  it  will  be  easy  for  the  man  to  keep  from  getting  drunk, 
and  this  from  three  considerations,  (a)  Experience  teaches 
that  the  man  that  gets  drunk  will  be  troublesome  to  the  state 
and  an  expense  and  a  menace  to  public  peace,  (b)  In  the 
next  place,  it  is  well  known  that  man's  habits  of  drink  will 
lessen  his  ability  to  render  the  state  and  society  the  service 
he  owes  them,  and  (c)  such  effort  to  protect  the  individual 
is  consonant  with  the  very  purpose  of  the  state  itself,  the 
promotion  of  the  conditions  of  life  that  will  make^  for  the 
highest  development  of  the  individuals  composing  it. 

^(B)  To  what  extent  can  the  state  control  the  sale  of  liquors 
and  why?_  If  Herbert  Spencer's  theory  of  the  limits  of  the 
state  duties  holds  good,  it  is  doubtful  if  the  state  has  any 
right  or  duty  to  interfere  with  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors. 
"  It  is  a  fair  field  and  no  favors,"  and  so  long  as  a  man  is 
not  forced  to  bu}^  the  state  has  no  function.  And  yet,  Spen- 
cer might  hold  that  the  moral  influence  of  the  saloon  is  such 
as  to  seriously  interfere  with  a  man's  free  right  to  work  out 
his  own  development.  This  might  be  urged  especially  by  the 
innocent  victim  of  a  man's  habit  of  drink,  as  the  dependent 
wife  or  child.  From  the  standpoint  of  increased  taxation  he 
might  hold  that  the  state  has  the  right  to  control  the  saloon. 
If  we  accept  the  larger  theory,  which  is  universally  accepted 
as  the  working  basis  of  government  in  the  civilized  world 
to-day,  that  the  purpose  of  the  state  is  more  than  that  of 
being  an  impartial  umpire.  That  it  must  seek  to  secure  the 
largest  and  best  development  of  the  individuals  consonant 
with  the  free  exercise  of  choice  by  the  individuals.  Then  it 
follows  that  the  state  has  the  right  and  power  to  protect  its 
citizens  against  the  evil  influences  which  would  unfavorably 
affect  that  development.  ■  The  following  Supreme  Court  de- 
cision is  in  point :  "  No  corporation  or  individual  can  acquire 
any  rights  by  contract  or  otherwise  which  the  government 
may  not  annul  or  take  away  if  the  exercise  of  such  rights 

90 


OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

becomes  detrimental  to  the  public  health  or  the  public  mor- 
als."   Gas  Light  Co.  vs.  La.  Light  Co.  6  Sup.  Ct.  Rep.  262. 

Under  two  conditions  the  rights  of  the  state  become  para- 
mount. /  First,  when  the  rights  or  the  development  of  the 
larger  number  are  endangered,  the  state  may  interfere  with 
what  otherwise  would  be  the  right  of  the  individual.  For 
instance,  a  man  has  the  perfect  right  to  the  unhindered  use 
of  firearms  if  he  is  alone  on  a  desert  island,  but  when  he 
becomes  a  member  of  society  and  that  use  of  firearms  en- 
dangers other  people,  the  state  has  the  right  and  duty  to 
prohibit  it.  So  also  if  he  is  alone  on  a  desert  island  he  may 
be  vaccinated  or  not,  as  he  chooses,  but  as  a  member  of  so- 
ciety he  may  be  compelled  to  be  vaccinated. T^Second,  the  state 
has  a  right  to  override  the  recognized  rights  of  the  individual 
when  they  imperil  the  safety  or  well-being  of  the  state,  or 
when  it  becomes  necessary  to  do  so  to  save  the  state,  so 
the  state  will  take  a  man's  property,  or  draft  him  for  military 
services  in  time  of  war?| 

,  From  these  considerations  we  conclude  that,  even  if  the 
selling  of  liquor  were  one  of  the  inherent  rights  of  a  man, 
the  state  has  the  right  and  duty  to  control,  restrict  or  prohibit 
it  if  it  proves  that  such  business  interferes  with  the  rights 
of  its  citizens  or  affects  unfavorably  the  welfare  of  the  com- 
munity. If  the  saloon,  through  its  relations  to  crime,  sick- 
ness (especially  insanity),  and  poverty  increases  the  cost  of 
the  police, *^prison,  hospital,  and  charity  departments  of  the 
government,  and  thereby  increases  the  cost  of  government, 
so  that  the  taxpayer  in  one  way  or  another,  by  direct  or  in- 
direct taxation,  is  compelled  to  pay  the  cost  of  saloons,  it 
manifestly  becomes  the  duty  of  the  state  to  protect  its  citi- 
zens against  such  infringement  of  their  rights.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  secure  exact  data  upon  the  fact  involved  in  this 
statement,  for  even  in  a  comparison  of  states  where  prohi- 
bition exists  with  states  that  have  the  license  system,  there 
are  so  many  other  elements  involved  that  we  cannot  be  cer- 

91 


MORAL  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIQUOR  BUSINESS. 

tain  that  the  conclusion  is  safe.  The  enforcement  of  law  may 
be  better  in  one  than  the  other  state.  There  may  be  very 
great  difference  in  local  conditions,  or  in  the  type  of  popu- 
lation, etc.  But  if  the  conclusions  we  have  reached  upon  the 
effects  of  the  habit  of  drink  upon  the  individual  and  the  com- 
munity, and  the  influence  of  the  saloon  upon  the  creation  and 
development  of  the  habit  and  upon  the  moral  tone  and  po- 
litical life  of  the  community  be  true,  it  is  beyond  doubt  that 
the  cost  of  saloons  to  the  community  far  exceeds  the  revenue 
derived  from  licenses.  As  suggested,  even  Spencer  might 
concede  the  staters  right  of  control  from  this  standpoint. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  the  saloon  is  so  related  to  crime  and 
immorality,  if  its  presence  in  the  community  has  an  unfavor- 
able effect  upon  the  moral  tone  of  the  people,  if  it  is  an  im- 
pediment to  the  moral  development  of  the  whole  community, 
and  if  its  relation  to  the  creation  and  development  of  the 
habit  of  drink  is  such  as  to  make  it  responsible  in  part  or 
in  whole  for  any  loss  of  efficiency,  or  any  physical  deteriora- 
tion of  the  community,  then  it  becomes  the  right  and  duty  of 
the  state  to  take  such  measures  as  will  abate  the  evil,  even  if 
what  under  othercpnditions  would  constitute  individual  rights 
are  overridden.  JAs  a  matter  of  fact,  a  man  has  no  inherent 
right  to  sell  liquor.  He  has  a  right  to  an  opportunity  to  earn 
a  living,  and  no  man  is  so  peculiarly  constituted  that  the  only 
thing  he  can  do  to  gain  a  living  is  to  sell  liquor,  so  that  selling 
liquor  is  not  an  inherent  right  to  earn  a  living.  This  view 
is  maintained  by  no  less  authority  than  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court,  which  says  in  the  decisions  already  quoted 
(Crowley  vs.  Christenson  137  U.  S.  86.  11,  Sup.  Ct.  Rep. 
13)  :  "There  is  no  inherent  right  in  a  citizen  selling  intoxi- 
cating liquors  by  retail.  It  is  not  a  privilege  of  a  citizen  of  a 
state  or  a  citizen  of  the  United  States."  It  is  only  upon  this 
ground  that  the  universal  practice  of  civilization  in  enacting 
aU  sorts  of  laws  of  restriction  or  prohibition  of  the  liquor 
traffic  can  be  justified. 

92 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

In  the  preparation  of  the  paper  the  following  books  were 
consulted : 

Morals  in  Evolution — Hobhouse. 

Origin  and  Development  of  Moral  Ideas — Westermarck. 
Principles  of  Ethics — Herbert  Spencer. 
Principles  of  Political  Obligation — T.  H.  Green. 
Law  and  Politics  in  the  Middle  Ages — Jenks. 
Aryan  Household — Hearn. 

The  King's  Peace — Essay  in  Pollock's  Oxford  Lectures. 
Folkways — Sumner. 
Politics  and  Ethics — Aristotle. 
The  Kepublic,  The  Laws,  Georgics — Plato  ( Jowett) . 
Aquinas  Ethicus — Joseph  Eickaby. 
Political  Tractates — Spinoza. 
Civil  Government — John  Locke. 
Leviathan — Hobbes. 
Spirit  of  the  Laws — Montesquieu. 
Nature  of  the  State — Bosenquet. 
Social  Contract — Eousseau. 
An  Inquiry  Concerning  the  Origin  of  Our  Ideas  of  Nature  or 

Moral  Good — Hutcheson. 
Introduction  to  Principles  of  Morality — Bentham. 
Philosophy  of  Law — Kant. 
Philosophy  of  Right — Fichter. 
Philosophy  of  Right — Hegel  (Morris). 
Village  Communities — Sir  Henry  Vane. 
The  Nation — Mulford. 
Moral  Science — Mark  Hopkins. 

93 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Primitive  Property — Lavelaye. 

Political  Ethics — Lieber. 

Ancient  Law — Henry  Mains. 

Philosophy  of  Rights— Stahl. 

Introduction  to  Social  Contrast — H.  J.  Tozer. 

Commentary — Blackstone. 

Police  Power  under  the  Constitution — Freund. 

Social  and  Ethical  Interpretations — Baldwin. 

State  of  Nature — Article  in  Baldwin's  Bibliography. 

Rights — Article  in  Baldwin's  Bibliography. 

Foundations  of  Moral  Obligation — M.  Grosvenor. 

Source  of  Moral  Obligation — J.  S.  Mackenzie. 

Philosophy  of  Individuality — A.  B.  Blackwell. 

Natural  Rights — Michelets. 

Law  of  Freedom — Hurd. 

II  Principe — Machiavelli. 

Physiological  Effects  of  Alcohol,  Economical  Aspects  of 
Liquor  Problem,  Legislative  Aspects  of  Liquor  Problem, 
Summary — Committee  of  Fifty. 

Mass.  Report  of  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor,  1895. 

Royal  Statistical  Society  Reports — Chas.  Booth. 

Report  "  Inter-Departmental  Committee  on  Physical  Deteri- 
oration" to  British  Parliament — 1904. 

Temperance  Problem  and  Social  Reform — Rowntree  and 
Sherwood. 

Articles  on  Alcohol  and  the  Liquor  TraflSc — McClure's  Maga- 
zine, Oct.,  Nov.  and  Dec,  1908,  by  Henry  Smith  Will- 
iams. 

Report  of  Special  Committee  on  Mental  Cases,  Medical  Com- 
missioners on  Lunacy  for  Scotland,  1903. 

The  Potentially  Insane — Woodbury. 

Causes  of  Poverty,  Lilian  Brandt,  Vol.  23,  No.  4.  Political 
Science  Quarterly. 

Alcoholism  and  Social  Problem — Lilian  Brandt,  Survey,  Oct. 
1,  1910. 

94 


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Poverty  and  Social  Decay — Alfred  Martin  Colwick,  Arena, 
Jan.,  1901. 

Menace  of  Police,  Hugh  E.  Weir,  World  of  To-day,  Jan., 
1910. 

Alcohol  and  Crime,  Dr.  Otto  Juliusburger,  Hilfe  (Berlin), 
Dec,  1905. 

Lexow  Committee,  N.  Y.  Reports,  Vol.  I,  Dec,  1905. 

Series  of  Addresses  on  the  Relation  of  the  Excise  Question 
to  the  City  Government.  Prof.  Hatton,  Dr.  John  P. 
Peters,  and  others.  Nat.  Con.  City  Government,  Pitts- 
burg, 1908. 

The  Newark,  Ohio,  Lawlessness  (Booze,  Boodle  and  Blood- 
shed in  the  Middle  West),  Sloan  Gordon,  Cosmopolitan, 
Dec,  1910. 

San  Francisco  Wide  Open,  Editorial,  Outlook,  83,  621-2. 

Alcoholism  and  Degeneration,  by  E.  C.  L.  Miller.  Indepen- 
dent, 58,  261-2.     Current  Literature,  38-361. 

Rum  and  Politics,  Editorial,  Nation,  79-516. 

Police  of  New  York.  (Unamerican  Statesmanship)  Editor- 
ial, Gunton,  20,  243-8. 

Vice  and  the  Police  of  New  York.  Outlook,  66,  1006-7,  Geo. 
C.  Hopkins. 

The  Economic  Causes  of  Pauperism,  Westminster,  165,  125- 
47,  David  H.  Wilson. 

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Journal  of  Sociology,  8,  716-17. 

Enforce  the  Law,  Clement,  Municipal  Affairs,  5,  842-51. 

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327-34,  570-6,  17,  115-21. 

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March  21  and  28,  April  4,  May  9  and  16,  1908. 
95 


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The  Thia  Oust  of  Civilization,  Ray  Stannard  Baker,  Ameri- 
can Magazine,  April,  1911. 
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Twelfth  Census  Report,  Manufactures,  part  3. 
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96 


J      1 
>  >  >  .  5 


VITA 

Eobert  Bagnell,  born  August  10,  1865,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Educational — public  schools  of  Philadelphia.  Undergrad- 
uate work,  under  private  tutors  and  in  personal  work.  Four 
years'  course  for  Traveling  Preachers  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church.  Completed  course  of  Chautauqua  Literary  and 
Scientific  Circle  for  years  1894  to  1897,  inclusive.  Master  of 
Arts,  Columbia  University,  1909. 


97 


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